The impact of a native, leaf-feeding chrysomelid beetle (Phaedon sp. nr. oviformis) on bittercress (Cardamine cordifolia: Cruciferae), was evaluated in an exclusion experiment. Multivariate statistical analysis showed a significant increase in plant performance in the rotenone exclusion compared to performance in the paired control treatment. Plant response to the reduction of herbivory was a c...

The flow cytometry method was used to estimate the genome sizes of nine agriculturally important insects, including two coleopterans, five Hemipterans, and two hymenopterans. Among which, the coleopteran Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus (Kuschel) had the largest genome of 981 Mb. The average genome size was 504 Mb, suggesting that insects have a moderate-size genome. Compared with the insects in other...

Extreme learning machine (ELM), used for the “generalized” single-hidden-layer feedforward networks (SLFNs), is a unified learning platform that can use a widespread type of feature mappings. In theory, ELM can approximate any target continuous function and classify any disjoint regions; in application, many experiment results have already demonstrated the good performance of ELM. In view of th...

The Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is a single-hidden layer feedforward neural network (SLFN) learning algorithm that can learn effectively and quickly. The ELM training phase assigns the input weights and bias randomly and do not change them in the whole process. Although the network works well, the random weights in the input layer can make the algorithm less effective and impact on its perfo...

Responses of young non-fruiting grapevines, Vitis labrusca (L.) var. ‘Niagara’, to defoliation were examined at two stages of vine growth when beetles typically infest vineyards. In the first experiment, vines were caged and subjected to two weeks of feeding by 0, 10, 20, or 40 adult Macrodactylus subspinosus Fabricius (Scarabaeidae: Macrodactylini) during bloom, or to the same range of adult P...

Glandular chemical defence relying on the action of salicylaldehyde is characteristic for Chrysomela leaf beetle larvae. The salicylaldehyde precursor salicin, sequestered from salicaceous host plants, is deglucosylated and the aglycon further oxidized by a salicyl alcohol oxidase (SAO) to the respective aldehyde. SAOs, key enzymes in salicin-based glandular chemical defence, were previously id...