Here, we report on the results of an experimental study that assessed the visitation frequency of wild bees to conspecific flowers with different sized floral guides. UV absorbent floral guides are ubiquitous in Angiosperms, yet surprisingly little is known about conspecific variation in these guides and very few studies have evaluated pollinator response to UV guide manipulation. This is true ...

Pollinators for animal pollinated crops can be provided by natural and semi-natural habitats, ranging from large vegetation remnants to small areas of non-crop land in an otherwise highly modified landscape. It is unknown, however, how different small- and large-scale habitat patches interact as pollinator sources. In the intensively managed Argentine Pampas, we studied the additive and interac...

As public health organizations continue to implement maternal and child health home-visitation programs, more evaluation of these efforts is needed, particularly as it relates to improving parental behaviors. The purpose of our study was to assess the impact of families’ participation in a home-visitation program offered by a central Kentucky health department on parental risk factors. A family...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Studies of the effects of pollination on floral scent and bee visitation remain rare, particularly in agricultural crops. To fill this gap, the hypothesis that bee visitation to flowers decreases after pollination through reduced floral volatile emissions in highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum, was tested. Other sources of variation in floral emissions and the role of...

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) production relies on insect-mediated pollination, which is provided by managed and wild pollinators. The goals of this study were to measure the visitation frequency, longevity and temporal activity patterns of pumpkin pollinators and to determine if local habitat management and landscape composition affected this pollination service. We used video surveillance to monit...

BACKGROUND Entomophilous non-native plants can directly affect the pollination and reproductive success of native plant species and also indirectly, by altering the composition and abundance of floral resources in the invaded community. Separating direct from indirect effects is critical for understanding the mechanisms underlying the impacts of non-native species on recipient communities. OB...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a major problem in the United States, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged Latino and Black children. Effective interventions that can be disseminated to large numbers of at-risk children and their families are needed. The goals of the Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Program (ECHO) are to examine the 12-month efficacy of a primary obesity prevention progr...

CONTEXT Home visitation to families with young children has been promoted as an effective way to prevent child maltreatment, but few studies have examined the conditions under which such programs meet this goal. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the presence of domestic violence limits the effects of nurse home visitation interventions in reducing substantiated reports of child abuse and negle...

BACKGROUND The neighbourhood environment such as the availability of parks are a key, but under-researched, influence on adolescents' physical activity. In addition to overall physical activity levels, park-based physical activity and park visitation is low in this age group. Thus, it is critical to identify park features that may encourage or discourage adolescents from visiting parks. This st...

The proportion of mimics and models is a key parameter in mimetic systems. In monoecious plants with self-mimicry pollination systems, the mimic-model ratio is determined by the floral sex ratio. While an equal sex ratio (1:1) could provide the perfect balance between pollen donors and stigma surfaces able to receive the pollen, an unequal ratio could increase pollination by production of a gre...