Butterfly community and single species based approaches were taken to establish conservation priorities within a nature reserve in Central Spain. In this study, patch type (sclerophyllous, halophilous, or disturbed), potential herbaceous nectar availability, potential woody plant nectar availability, total nectar availability, and two approximations to plant diversity (herbaceous and woody plan...

1. The gypsy moth is one of many early spring-feeding Lepidoptera that have outbreaks. Previous work has revealed that mortality from natural enemies varied between egg hatch dates separated by only a few weeks. However, this phenology e€ect was confounded with density di€erences caused by di€erential dispersal and early larval survival of the releases. 2. Five di€erent densities of larvae were...

Predators and competitors of vertebrates can in theory reduce the density of infected nymphs (DIN)-an often-used measure of tick-borne disease risk-by lowering the density of reservoir-competent hosts and/or the tick burden on reservoir-competent hosts. We investigated this possible indirect effect of predators by comparing data from 20 forest plots across the Netherlands that varied in predato...

Scant attention has been paid to invasive species whose range and abundance has decreased after an initial range expansion. One such species is the browntail moth Euproctis chrysorrhoea L, which was discovered in the eastern United States in 1897. Its range expanded until 1914; after 1915, however, its range contracted and now it persists in only two isolated coastal locations. Although a biolo...

The evolutionary causes of variation in host specialization among phytophagous insects are still not well understood and identifying them is a central task in insect /host plant biology. Here we examine host utilization of the chrysomelid beetle Oreina elongata that shows interpopulation variation in the degree of specialization. We focus on larval behaviour and on what selection pressures may ...

—To test potential competitive interactions between larvae of white crappie Pomoxis annularis and of gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum. we added adult gizzard shad to eight of twelve 0.1-ha ponds that had been stocked with adult white crappies. Larval white crappies and larval gizzard shad appeared within 1 week of one another and larval white crappie density did not differ between treatments. Z...

For most of the family Porcellanidae, which comprises 283 species, larval development remains to be described. Full development has been only described for 52 species, while part of the larval cycle has been described for 45 species. The importance of knowing the complete larval development of a species goes beyond allowing the identification of larval specimens collected in the plankton. Morph...

Genetic loci that influence behavior are often difficult to identify and localize in part due to the quantitative nature of behavioral phenotypes. Previous studies had found an association between pupal lethality and altered larval behavior for mutants of several genes. To facilitate the identification and localization of new mutants that influence larval foraging (movement in the presence of f...

Using the rate of development of blowflies colonising a corpse, accumulated degree hours (ADH), or days (ADD), is an established method used by forensic entomologists to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). Derived from laboratory experiments, their application to field situations needs care. This study examines the effect of the post-feeding larval dispersal time on the ADH and therefore t...