Flower development and senescence was studied in Narcissus tazetta ‘Kashmir Local’. Flower development was divided into six stages (I-VI), from the tight bud stage to the senescent stage. Flower fresh and dry weight increased as the flowers progressed from bud to bloom and then declined during senescence. Membrane permeability of tepal tissues increased as the flower progressed through various ...

Newer, selective insecticides with few negative impacts on natural enemies and competitor species are needed for effective, sustainable management of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts on natural enemies and competitor thrips species of insecticides used for control of western flower thrips in fruiting vegetabl...

Rafflesia is a biologically enigmatic species that is very rare in occurrence and possesses an extraordinary morphology. This parasitic plant produces a gigantic flower up to one metre in diameter with no leaves, stem or roots. However, little is known about the floral biology of this species especially at the molecular level. In an effort to address this issue, we have generated and characteri...

Background: Geographical distribution of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) has continuously been extended in recent years in Iran. The Beiza District is one of the newly-emerged endemic foci of ZCL in southern Iran. The main aim of the present study was to detect the vector(s) of ZCL in this area. Methods: To detect the fauna and vectors of ZCL in this district, sand flies were cau...

Observations of hummingbirds feeding at flowers longer or shorter than their bills seem to contradict the view that bill lengths of hummingbirds evolved in concert with the lengths of their flowers. Recent experiments, however, indicate that a hummingbird’s ability to feed at artificial flowers of different lengths depends on the widths of the flowers. We examined if the broad range of flower l...

background: there are nearly 1000 species of phlebotomine sand flies in 6 genera, of which only two, phlebotomus in the old world and lutzomyia in the new world are medically important. globally, leishmaniasis prevalent in 98 countries and affects estimated 12 million people with almost two million new cases per year. some rural areas of azarshahr district in east azarbaijan province have been ...

background: medicinal plant extracts such as those obtained from salvia species have a wide variety of chemical compounds in their essential oils. the repellency of a number of essential oils including those from the labiates like salvia against several insect species including the common house flies is reported. objective: the aim of this investigation was to find out the excito-repellency eff...

Invasive plants directly and indirectly disrupt the ecosystem functioning, of which indirect effects, for example, through trophic cascades, are particularly difficult to predict. It is frequently assumed that impact an invading species on proportional (linearly related) its density or abundance in a habitat, but this assumption has rarely been tested. We hypothesised richness potentially polli...