Brown spot disease caused by Alternaria alternata (Fr.: Fr.) Keissl is a serious problem forproduction of tangerines and tangerine hybrids in Iran. The Tangerine pathotype causes brownspot disease on young leaves and immature fruits of limited varieties of mandarins and tangerines(Citrus. reticulata Blanco). Specificity in the interaction between tangerine and the pathogen isdetermined by a hos...

Cuscuta spp. (i.e., dodders) are stem parasites that naturally graft to their host plants to extract water and nutrients; multiple adjacent hosts are often parasitized by one or more Cuscuta plants simultaneously, forming connected plant clusters. Metabolites, proteins, and mRNAs are known to be transferred from hosts to Cuscuta, and Cuscuta bridges even facilitate host-to-host virus movement. ...

BACKGROUND Surveys of host plants of insect galls have been performed in different regions of Brazil. The knowledge of species of host plants of insect galls is fundamental to further studies of plant-galling insect interactions. However, a list of host plant species of gall-inducing insects has not yet been compiled for the flora of the Midwest Region of Brazil. NEW INFORMATION We provide a ...

A large proportion of phytophagous insects show host plant specificity (monophagy or oligophagy), often determined by host secondary chemistry. Yet, even specialists can be negatively affected by host chemistry at high levels or with novel compounds, which may manifest itself if their host species is chemically variable. This study tested for reciprocal effects of a specialist tortoise beetle (...

Plants are exposed to a suite of herbivorous attackers that often arrive sequentially. Herbivory affects interactions between the host plants and subsequently attacking herbivores. Moreover, plants may respond to herbivory by emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that attract carnivorous natural enemies of the herbivores. However, information borne by VOCs is ubiquitous and may attract car...

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest with an extensive host range. Previous research has shown that B. tabaci is a species complex with many cryptic species or biotypes and that the two most important species are MEAM1 (Middle East-Minor Asia 1) and MED (Mediterranean genetic group). MEAM1 and MED are known to differ in their preference for cabbage, Brassica oleracea, as a host plant, ...

Volatiles emitted by plants convey an array of information through different trophic levels. Animals such as host-seeking herbivores encounter plumes with filaments from both host and non-host plants. While studies showed a behavioral effect of non-host plants on herbivore host location, less information is available on how a searching insect herbivore perceives and flies upwind to a host-plant...

Diaprepes abbreviatus L. is a highly polyphagous root weevil that causes damage to several fruit crops, ornamental plants, and other naturally occurring plants in Florida. Haeckeliania sperata Pinto is a gregarious endoparasitoid that attacks D. abbreviatus eggs. We hypothesized that the reproductive success of H. sperata is affected by the host plant of D. abbreviatus. Six host plants with var...

The foundation of many plant-ant mutualisms is ant protection of plants from herbivores in exchange for food and/or shelter. While the role of symbiotic ants in protecting plants from stem- and leaf-feeding herbivores has been intensively studied, the relationship between ant defense and measures of plant fitness has seldom been quantified. We studied ant aggression, damage by herbivores and se...