1049-9644/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Inc. A doi:10.1016/j.biocontrol.2011.06.014 ⇑ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 517 353 5598. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.P. Werling). Cultivation of biofuel crops could change agricultural landscapes, affecting natural enemies at multiple scales. We sampled five natural enemy families with sticky cards in three model biofuel habitats (corn, switch...

Demand for bioenergy is increasing, but the ecological consequences of bioenergy crop production on working lands remain unresolved. Corn is currently a dominant bioenergy crop, but perennial grasslands could produce renewable bioenergy resources and enhance biodiversity. Grassland bird populations have declined in recent decades and may particularly benefit from perennial grasslands grown for ...

This paper analyses the relationship between Lavandula stoechas subsp. pedunculata, a common Mediterranean scrub species in central Iberia, and perennial grasslands. While Lavandula gives rise to almost monospecific formations in intermediate and upper hill zones, perennial grasses occupy the low areas. The proposed explanatory hypothesis for this spatial distribution is that the scrub is unabl...

When predicting the fate and consequences of recurring deleterious mutations in self-fertilising populations most models developed make the assumption that populations have discrete non-overlapping generations. This makes them biologically irrelevant when considering perennial species with overlapping generations and where mating occurs independently of the age group. Previous models studying t...

Changes in species richness and productivity in a Mediterranean dwarf-shrub community were documented during 5 years following treatments intended to improve soil fertility and reduce shrub cover. Five treatments, replicated five times, were tested: (a) shrub cover reduction by selective herbicide application; (b) application of medium levels of phosphorus; (c) application of high doses of phos...

Understanding how carbon source and sink strengths limit plant growth is a critical knowledge gap that hinders efforts to maximize crop yield. We investigated how differences in growth rate arise from source-sink limitations, using a model system comparing a fast-growing domesticated annual barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. NFC Tipple) with a slow-growing wild perennial relative (Hordeum bulbosum). S...

Current biofuel feedstock crops such as corn lead to large environmental losses of N through nitrate leaching and NO emissions; second-generation cellulosic crops have the potential to reduce these N losses. We measured N losses and cycling in establishing miscanthus (), switchgrass ( L. fertilized with 56 kg N ha yr), and mixed prairie, along with a corn ( L.)-corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotati...

The choice of crops and their management can strongly influence soil microbial communities and their processes. We used lipid biomarker profiling to characterize how soil microbial composition of five potential bioenergy cropping systems diverged from a common baseline five years after they were established. The cropping systems we studied included an annual system (continuous no-till corn) and...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of adding Coblation-assisted inferior turbinoplasty to a medical treatment regimen for symptoms associated with hypertrophic inferior turbinates. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING Prospective, open-label, non-randomized trial with outpatient treatment. Patients were assigned to treatment groups in order of enrolment into the study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS From June 2007 ...