Parasitism emerges readily in models and laboratory experiments of RNA world would lead to extinction unless prevented by compartmentalization or spatial patterning. Modelling replication as an active computational process opens up many degrees freedom that are exploited meet environmental challenges, modify the evolutionary itself. Here, we use automata chemistry RNA-world study emergence para...

The impact of commercially reared house fly parasitoids released into nine dairy calf coverall facilities were evaluated over 3 yr. Individual and equally mixed ratios of the pteromalid parasitoids Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Saunders and M. raptorellus Kogan and Legner were released at a rate of 500 parasitoids per calf per week for 8 wk. Prerelease, release, and postrelease parasitism was...

metal spinning as a kind of manufacturing process has capability to shape hollow components. in present work shear spinning process is used to formplates into conical shapes. moreover, the aim of this research is to demonstrate the impact of the process parameters (i.e. feeding rate and spindle speed) on wall thickness. this approachwas done by experimental and finite elements method. the resul...

Studies on aggressiveness of parasitoids, as assessed by their parasitism against pests, used in biological-control programs are highly important to select the most suitable species and/or strain control insect pests. The present study investigated whether egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi Zucchi, an efficient agent for sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) Brazil, could be replaced...

Recent declines in biodiversity have increased interest in the link between biodiversity and the provision and sustainability of ecosystem services across space and time. We mapped the complex network of interactions between herbivores and parasitoids to examine the relationship between parasitoid species richness, functional group diversity and the provision of natural pest control services. Q...

Current knowledge about polysphinctine parasite wasps' interactions with their spider hosts is very fragmented and incomplete. This study presents the host specificity of Zatypota percontatoria (Müller) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and its adaptation to varying host availability. Two years of field observations show that Z. percontatoria is a stenophagous parasitoid that parasitizes only five c...

Female insects have a limited energy budget to invest in reproduction. Clutch size and egg size are two traits typically involved in energy budget trade-offs, and an optimum clutch size is generally predicted. This trade-off, however, is influenced by many factors including the probability of egg parasitism. We studied this possibility in the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa), w...