At 15 commercial highbush blueberry farms, fields where row middles were tilled had 72% lower larval density of Popillia japonica than fields with grass in row middles. Popillia japonica larval populations were similar in the perimeters of tilled and untilled fields. Soil parameters measured in these sites were not correlated with larval density of P. japonica. Samples of adult beetles on bushe...

Dissemination pathways of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars from their areas of domestication to other parts of the Americas were determined using phaseolin type, as determined by 1-dimensional SDS/PAGE. Common bean cultivars of lowland South America exhibited approximately equal numbers of 'S' and "T' phaseolin types. "S" cultivars of that region may have been introduced along a route...

There is increasing evidence that top-down controls have strong non-consumptive effects on herbivore populations. However, little is known about how these non-consumptive effects relate to bottom-up influences. Using a series of field trials, we tested how changes in top-down and bottom-up controls at the within-plant scale interact to increase herbivore suppression. In the first experiment, we...

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate plant population and N-fertilizer effects on yield and yield components of maize (Zea mays L.). Three levels of plant populations (53000, 66000, and 800,000 plants ha⁻¹ corresponding to spacings of 75 × 25, 60 × 25, and 50 × 25 cm) and 4 doses of N (100, 140, 180, and 220 kg ha⁻¹) were the treatment variables. Results revealed that plant growth, ligh...

Perennial ryegrass is one of the most commonly cultivated forage species in Europe, where grazing and mowing (cutting) are used to manage this resource. Cutting can be characterized by its intensity (height) and its frequency. Combinations of these two factors affect mono-species grasslands productivity and could also modify the genotypic composition of heterogeneous populations. Indeed, the hi...

In this article we build a mathematical model for forest growth and we compare this model with a computer forest simulator named SORTIE. The main ingredient taken into account in both models is the competition for light between trees. The parameters of the mathematical model are estimated by using SORTIE model, when the parameter values of SORTIE model correspond to the ones previously evaluate...

We examined whether a reported northward expansion of the geographic distribution limit of the disease-transmitting tick Ixodes ricinus and an increased tick density between the early 1980s and mid-1990s in Sweden was related to climatic changes. The annual number of days with minimum temperatures above vital bioclimatic thresholds for the tick's life-cycle dynamics were related to tick density...

Understanding the role of consumers in density-dependent plant population dynamics is a long-standing goal in ecology. However, the generality of herbivory effects across heterogeneous landscapes is poorly understood due to the pervasive influence of context-dependence. We tested effects of native insect herbivory on the population dynamics of an exotic thistle, Cirsium vulgare, in a field expe...

Variable-rate applications of the nematicide aldicarb were compared to producer standard rates in eight field tests over 3 years. Test areas (308 to 1,015 m long) were divided into eight or five blocks. Each block contained two plots with a variable-rate treatment (VRT) of aldicarb and a producer standard treatment (PST) of aldicarb. Each VRT plot was divided into three subunits and intensively...

This paper documents the impact of rapid social and economic change on child rearing, early education, and community mobilization in Kenya. The study employed a collaborative, micro-ethnographic design, which draws heavily from interview data and repeated observations in eight districts of Kenya. Data came from 462 parents, grandparents, children (older siblings, ages 8-12 years), preschool t...