field experiment was conducted to determine the economic threshold for spraying of flubendiamide against the brinjal shoot and fruit borer. flubendiamide was applied based on 10 thresholds including 2% shoot infestation, 5% shoot infestation, first fruit set + 2% fruit infestation, first fruit set + 5% fruit infestation, 2% fruit infestation, 5% fruit infestation, 2% shoot + 2% fruit infestatio...

Understanding disturbance interactions and their ecological consequences remains a major challenge for research on the response of forests to a changing climate. When, where, and how one disturbance may alter the severity, extent, or occurrence probability of a subsequent disturbance is encapsulated by the concept of linked disturbances. Here, we evaluated 1) how climate and forest habitat vari...

Parasites are common in modern ecosystems and are also known from the fossil record. One of the best preserved and easily recognisable examples of parasitism in the fossil record concerns isopod-induced swellings in the branchial chamber of marine decapod crustaceans. However, very limited quantitative data on the variability of infestation percentages at the species, genus, and family levels a...

The cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, is a major threat to the improvement of cattle production in tropical and subtropical countries worldwide. Bos indicus cattle are naturally more resistant to infestation with the cattle tick than are Bos taurus breeds, although considerable variation in resistance occurs within and between breeds. It is not known which genes contribute to th...

In agriculture, honey bees play a critical role as commercial pollinators of crop monocultures which depend on insect pollination. Hence, the demise of honey bee colonies in Europe, USA, and Asia caused much concern and initiated many studies and research programmes aiming at elucidating the factors negatively affecting honey bee health and survival. Most of these studies look at individual fac...

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a major pest of corn, Zea mays L., and a significant, but more sporadic, pest of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in the Western Hemisphere. Previous studies showed that the cotton infestations primarily involve a fall armyworm subpopulation known as the "corn-strain" for which corn is the preferred host plant. It was ...

Parasitic invasions are recognized as one of the primary factors responsible for decreasing populations of European eel. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of infestation with the nematode Anguillicoloides crassus on the innate immunity in European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Anguillicoloides crassus parasitizes the swim bladder of this fish. Levels of the following immuno...

Seeds of various wild and cultivated pulses express varied degrees of resistance to damage by Callosobruchus maculatus, a major pest of stored pulses. Seeds were analysed for trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitors (qualitatively and quantitatively) and protein pro®les (SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) to study the chemical basis of resistance to bruchid infestation. Seeds of the wild pulses Dun...

Levels of insect infestation, insect spatial distribution, and the relationship between the number of insect-damaged kernels (IDK) and the number of insects present in grain samples in three-hopper railcars transporting wheat from country elevators to a mill were studied. Six of eight sampled railcars were infested with more than two species of insects. The most abundant species collected were ...

A large percentage of Bollgard cotton is treated for bollworms [Helicoverpa zea (Boddie)] with little information about economic losses from these infestations. The impact of bollworm infestations on maturity and yield of Bollgard cotton was determined. Infestations of 1-d-old bollworm larvae were established on non-Bollgard and Bollgard cottons in large field cages. Treatments included three a...