The medically important members of the Culex pipiens species complex provide an enigma for systematists, evolutionary biologists, and vector biologists. The species complex is composed of forms that differ in their ecology, behaviour, physiology and vector competence. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) caused by endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria is thought to play an important role in restricting ...

Abstract Background Yellow (stripe) rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is an economic disease of wheat. Growth-promoting fungi (GPF) such as Trichoderma asperellum and Penicillium simplicissimum have been investigated for their potential to control yellow rust involvement in gene expression four PR proteins all-stage resistance. Results Wheat plants (cv. Sids-12) treated...

Sampling of agricultural soils from the Mexican northeastern region was performed to detect Trichoderma spp., genetically characterize it, and assess its potential use as a biologic control agent against Macrophomina phaseolina. M. phaseolina is a phytopathogen that attacks over 500 species of cultivated plants and causes heavy losses in the regional sorghum crop. Sampling was performed immedia...

Abstract The increasing demand for agricultural products can be met by maximizing production potential and reducing crop losses caused common plant-parasitic nematodes. Chemical-based nematode management is a successful technique mitigating damage yield pests; however, inappropriate irresponsible application of synthetic pesticides has negative impacts on fauna, bioflora, natural enemies such a...

Habitat selection by dispersers is the focus of much theoretical models, most of which are based on the assumption of negative density dependence. The archetype of these models is the ideal free distribution, characterized by an evolutionary stable state where more competitors aggregate in better habitats, so that the fitness benefit of resource abundance is equally offset by the cost of compet...

When there is conspicuous underexploitation of a limited resource, it is worth asking, what mechanisms allow presumably valuable resources to be left unused? Evolutionary biologists have generated a wide variety of hypotheses to explain this, ranging from interdemic group selection to selfishly prudent individual restraint. We consider a situation in which, despite high intraspecific competitio...

Climate change affects the abundance, distribution and activity of natural enemies that are important for suppressing herbivore crop pests. Moreover, higher mean temperatures and increased frequency of climatic extremes are expected to induce different responses across trophic levels, potentially disrupting predator-prey interactions. Using field observations, we examined the response of an aph...