Epiplema albida (Hampson) (Lepidoptera: Uraniidae, Epipleminae) from Sri Lanka, was studied to assess its safety for use as a biological control agent for Sri Lankan privet, Ligustrum robustum subsp. walkeri (Oleaceae) in La Réunion and other Mascarene Islands. Larval no-choice feeding tests using newly hatched larvae, larval development tests, and multiple choice oviposition tests were used. A...

Because of long-term chemical processes, metal bioavailability in field soils decreases with time. Metal toxicity may, therefore, be overestimated if toxicity data with freshly spiked soils are used to derive soil quality criteria, a current practice. In the present study, effects of the long-term processes, called aging, on copper partitioning and ecotoxicity are investigated. Twenty-five fiel...

The genus Kapsa Dworakowska is redescribed and a new subgenus Kapsa (Rigida) Cao & Zhang is established to include thirteen species, a key to males of the subgenus is provided, and eight new species from China are described and illustrated: Kapsa aculeiformis, K. apicispina, K. brevis, K. explanata, K. furcata, K. imminuta, K. mnegaprocessa and K. serrata spp. nov.. Based on detailed study of p...

Bacterial levan has gained an increasing interest over the last decades due to its unique characteristics and multiple possible applications. Levan and other exopolysaccharides (EPSs) production are usually optimized to obtain the highest concentration or yield while a possible change of the molecular size and mass during the production process is mostly neglected. In this study, the molar mass...

Although the toxicokinetics of organic pollutants in soil invertebrates under optimal and constant temperature has been widely reported, their uptake, elimination, bioaccumulation suboptimal temperatures, especially daily fluctuating (FT) regimes have received only little research attention. In this study, phenanthrene (PHE) Enchytraeus albidus (Oligochaeta) different an FT regime were investig...