Population trends represent a minimum amount of information required to assess the conservation status of a species. However, understanding and detecting trends can be complicated by variation among habitats and regions, and by dispersal connecting habitats through source-sink dynamics. We analyzed trends in breeding populations between habitats and regions to better understand the overall dyna...

Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (spotted wing drosophila) has recently become a serious pest of a wide variety of fruit crops in the United States as well as in Europe, leading to substantial yearly crop losses. To enable basic and applied research of this important pest, we sequenced the D. suzukii genome to obtain a high-quality reference sequence. Here, we discuss the basic properties of the ge...

Petiole sap N and K quick tests offer fast and accurate in-field analysis for N and K and have been calibrated for some vegetable crops in Florida. This paper summarizes 10 years of research conducted in Florida on petiole sap testing for N and K. Petiole sap nitrate-N and K concentrations correlated highly with wholeleaf N and K concentrations and decreased through the season for all vegetable...

Knowledge of seasonal maximum potential growth rates are important for assessing periods of resource limitations in fruit tree species. In this study we assessed the periods of resource limitation for vegetative (current year stems, and woody biomass) and reproductive (fruit) organs of a major agricultural crop: the apple tree. This was done by comparing relative growth rates (RGRs) of individu...

CARBON BALANCE OF A GRAZED GRASSLAND IN BELGIUM JÉRÔME ELISABETH, BECKERS YVES, BODSON BERNARD, MOUREAUX CHRISTINE, AUBINET MARC 1 University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Unit of Biosystem Physics, 8 Avenue de la Faculté, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium 2 University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Animal Science Unit, 2 Passage des Déportés, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium 3 University of Liege, Gemblo...

Coccinellids are important natural enemies of aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, whiteflies, jassids and mites. They are being augmented or conserved for population reduction of different agricultural crop pests in the concept of Integrated Pest Management throughout the world. The genera and species in the tribe Scymnini known from Pakistan are revised and redescribed. Two genera including two ...

Growing reliance on food-based biofuels has created considerable controversy about their impact on food prices and the environment and led to scepticism about their sustainability. This review describes the concept of sustainability in the context of biofuels and then discusses the factors affecting the economic viability of current and next-generation biofuels and their environmental and socia...

P. D. Olivera, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108; J. A. Kolmer, United States Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Cereal Disease Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108; Y. Anikster, Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel 69978; and B. J. Steffenson, Depa...

Maintenance of garlic (Allium sativum L.) genetic resources has had a long tradition in the Czech Republic. The collection was founded in 1951 and its current holder is the Crop Research Institute, Department of Vegetables and Special Crops in Olomouc. The collection consists of 613 genotypes. The oldest genotype was acquired in 1954. The collection has been evaluated according to the Descripto...