Field surveys conducted in Argentina proved Plectonycha correntina Lacordaire (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) to be a promising biocontrol agent against the Neotropical perennial climber, Anredera cordifolia (Tenore) Steenis (Basellaceae), a serious environmental weed in Africa and Australasia. Larvae and adults feed on the leaves. The host range was evaluated by no-choice larval survival tests and...

The stable carbon isotope composition of plant tissues, commonly expressed as δ13C, holds a wealth information about photosynthetic pathway, water relations and stress physiology. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is derived form photosynthesis that allows plants to fix at higher water-use efficiency compared the ancestral C3 photosynthesis. While central carbon-fixing enzyme plants, Rubisco, ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS C4 eudicot species are classified into biochemical sub-types of C4 photosynthesis based on the principal decarboxylating enzyme. Two sub-types are known, NADP-malic enzyme (ME) and NAD-ME; however, evidence for the occurrence or involvement of the third sub-type (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; PEP-CK) is emerging. In this study, the presence and activity of PEP-CK in C4 ...