UNLABELLED The multiplicity of infection (MOI), i.e., the number of viral genomes that infect a cell, is an important parameter in virus evolution, which for each virus and environment may have an optimum value that maximizes virus fitness. Thus, the MOI might be controlled by virus functions, an underexplored hypothesis in eukaryote-infecting viruses. To analyze if the MOI is controlled by vir...

The walnut aphid, Chromaphis juglandicola is a pest known in California for more than 100 years. The introduction of the parasitic wasp Trioxys pallidus from Iran in 1969 led to a dramatic success in the biological control of walnut aphid populations in California, and has provided sustained control of this devastating pest for the past 35 years. However, we are currently facing new walnut aphi...

We present a model for host-parasite dynamics which incorporates both vertical and horizontal transmission as well as spatial structure. Our model consists of stacked contact processes (CP), where the dynamics of the host is a simple CP on a lattice while the dynamics of the parasite is a secondary CP which sits on top of the host-occupied sites. In the simplest case, where infection does not i...

Microorganisms interact with plants because plants offer a wide diversity of habitats including the phyllosphere (aerial plant part), the rhizosphere (zone of influence of the root system), and the endosphere (internal transport system) [3, 5]. Interactions of epiphytes, rhizophytes or endophytes may be detrimental or beneficial for either the microorganism or the plant and may be classified as...

Pediobius imbreus (Walker), a hyperparasite of Opisina arenosella, is distributed throughout Kerala. The biology of this hyperparasite was studied in the laboratory. The mating process took, on an average, 43 sec. The female started to lay eggs on the same day of emergence and laid upto 30 eggs in her life time. The eggs hatch after 36 to 40 h. of incubation. There were three larval stages. The...

Parasitoids are key ecosystem service providers within sustainable agriculture and integrated pest-management strategies due to their function as biocontrol agents.There is a dearth of data regarding how parasitoids fit wider communities interacting species, but such information essential for the successful implementation conservation biological control in open-field agroecosystems.DNA barcodin...