In many study systems, populations fluctuate synchronously across large regions. Several mechanisms have been advanced to explain this, but their importance in nature is often uncertain. Theoretical studies suggest that spatial synchrony initiated in one species through Moran effects may propagate among trophically linked species, but evidence for this in nature is lacking. By applying the nonp...

Male moths are endowed with odorant receptors (ORs) to detect species-specific sex pheromones with remarkable sensitivity and selectivity. We serendipitously discovered that an endogenous OR in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is highly sensitive to the sex pheromone of the silkworm moth, bombykol. Intriguingly, the fruit fly detectors are more sensitive than the receptors of the silkwor...

Cyclic outbreaks of forest moth pest species have long remained a puzzle for foresters and ecologists. This paper presents time-series exhibiting a strong negative relationship between sunspot numbers and population indices of autumnal and winter moths, both in a mountain birch forest in central Norway and in a mixed lowland forest in southern Norway. In the latter area, also the population lev...

Monitoring of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L) population on cabbage and Chinese cabbage over the past eight years has indicated that heavy rains from June to September limit the population of the insect. Therefore, during the dry period when diamondback moth is a serious pest, water was applied by sprinkler system placed 1.5 m over the cabbage crop rather than by traditional furrow irr...

Populations of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), are extensively monitored in the United States through the use of pheromone-baited traps. We report on use of automated pheromone-baited traps that use a recording sensor and data logger to record the unique date-time stamp of males as they enter the trap. We deployed a total of 352 automated traps under field conditions across several U.S. ...

Studies were conducted with codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., to fit cumulative curves for the occurrence of injured fruits and male moth catches in sex pheromone-baited traps as a function of accumulated degree-days after the start of moth flight. Twelve data sets were collected from seven apple, Malus domestica Bordhausen, orchards in Washington State from 2003 to 2006. Cumulative data were g...

The identity, geographical distribution, and host range of codling moth is reviewed, and the evidence for sweet cherry being a host is critically analysed. A model is described which assesses the risk of codling moth being spread through international trade in sweet cherries, as exempli"ed by exports from, respectively, New Zealand and USA to Japan in winter and summer. The model is based on th...

Traps baited with ethyl (E, Z)-2, 4-decadienoate (pear ester) or (E, E)-8,10-dodecadienol (codlemone) were used to monitor codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in 102 apple,Malus domestica Borkhausen, orchards. All orchards were treated with 500Ð1,000 Isomate-C PLUS dispensers/ha during 2000Ð2002. Traps baitedwith pear ester caught their Þrst moth signiÞcantly later on a...

Indicator taxa are often proposed as efficient ways of identifying conservation priorities, but the correlation between putative indicators and other taxa has not been adequately tested. We examined whether a popular indicator taxon, the butterflies, could provide a useful surrogate measure of diversity in a closely related but relatively poorly known group, the moths, at a local scale relevant...

The study was conducted to appraise the in-depth scenario of socio-economic status of pig rearers, management practices in pigs and to identify constraints in rural areas of Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam. A base line survey was conducted and a total of 300 pig owning households were interviewed randomly. In the study, it was found that majority of rearers were women (84.7%) for the purp...