Transgenic crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins have been adopted worldwide, notably in developing countries. In spite of their success in controlling target pests while allowing a substantial reduction of insecticide use, the sustainable control of these pest populations is threatened by the evolution of resistance. The implementation of the "high dose/refuge" strategy for manag...

The importance of metabolic rate and/or spiracle modulation for saving respiratory water is contentious. One major explanation for gas exchange pattern variation in terrestrial insects is to effect a respiratory water loss (RWL) saving. To test this, we measured the rates of CO2 and H2O release ( and , respectively) in a previously unstudied, mesic cockroach, Aptera fusca, and compared gas exch...

Effects of temperature and precipitation on spring dispersal patterns of Frankliniella fusca (Hinds) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) caught on yellow sticky traps were estimated in central and eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia, USA, from 1997 to 2001, and in 2004 and 2007. Data were collected from 44 sites within 14 locations over 7 years, resulting in 30 location-year data combinations. Th...

A collection of four clonal isolates of Podosphaera aphanis was heterothallic and was composed of two mutually exclusive mating types. Cleistothecial initials approximately 20 to 30 microm in diameter were observed within 7 to 14 days after pairing of compatible isolates and developed into morphologically mature ascocarps within 4 weeks after initiation on both potted plants maintained in isola...

Together with longer production periods, the commercial transition to day-neutral strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) varieties has favored the development of diseases such as powdery mildew (Podosphaera aphanis) that thrives in late summer-early fall. In an attempt to find alternative solutions to fungicides currently employed to curb the disease, we wanted to investigate the potential of silicon...

Plant sugars are often considered as primary feeding stimuli, conditioning host plant acceptance by herbivorous insects. Of the nine sugars identified from methanolic extracts of seven grass species, only turanose, a sucrose isomer, was negatively correlated with the survival and growth of the noctuid larva of cereal stemborer, Busseola fusca. Sucrose was the most abundant sugar, although it di...

Flow cytometry was used to study the genome sizes and ploidy levels for four thrips species: Franklinothrips orizabensis Johansen (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae), Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande, Frankliniella fusca Hinds, and Thrips tabaci Lindeman (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). F. orizabensis males and females had 1C genome sizes of 426 Mb and 422 Mb, respectively. Male and female F. fusca had...

Polymorphism in warning coloration is puzzling because positive frequency-dependent selection by predators is expected to promote monomorphic warning signals in defended prey. We studied predation on the warning-coloured wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis) by using artificial prey resembling white and yellow male colour morphs in five separate populations with different naturally occurring ...

Thermomonospora fusca cellulase E5 is encoded by the celE gene. This gene appears to be regulated at the transcriptional level by both induction and repression, and three putative closely linked promoters have been located by S1 mapping. To study its regulatory mechanism, a gel retardation assay was used to identify a protein in T. fusca cell extracts that interacted specifically with the DNA f...