Previous studies have examined separately how pollinator generalization and abundance influence plant reproductive success, but none so far has evaluated simultaneously the relative importance of these pollinator attributes. Here we evaluated the extent to which pollinator generalization and abundance influence plant reproductive success per visit and at the population level on a generalist pla...

The contribution of forest generalists and specialists to the dispersal pattern of tree species is not well understood. Specialists are considered low-quality dispersers because their dispersal distance is often short. However, disregard for seed deposition site may result in underestimation of the dispersal quality of specialists. The present study estimated the contribution of generalist and ...

We studied developmental plasticity under food stress in three female-biased size dimorphic predatory mite species, Phytoseiulus persimilis, Neoseiulus californicus, and Amblyseius andersoni. All three species prey on two-spotted spider mites but differ in the degree of adaptation to this prey. Phytoseiulus persimilis is a specialized spider mite predator, N. californicus is a generalist with a...

Generalist predators and parasitoids are considered to be important regulators of aphids. The former not only feed on these pests, but might also consume parasitoids at all stages of development. This direct or coincidental interference affects the natural control of aphids, the scale of which is largely unknown, and it has rarely been examined under natural conditions. Here, molecular diagnost...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Choosing career paths can be difficult decisions for residents contemplating fellowship training. This study compares the experiences of early career pediatricians who did and did not pursue fellowships. METHODS We analyzed national, weighted data from pediatricians 8 to 10 years after residency (n = 842). Work environment, work-life balance, and satisfaction were co...

1. Generalist natural enemies are usually not considered as being capable of causing population cycles in forest insects, but they may influence the population dynamics of their prey in the low density cycle phase when specialist enemies are largely absent. 2. In the present field study, the total response of the generalist invertebrate predator community to experimentally established pupal den...

BACKGROUND The care that most people receive at the end of their lives is provided not by specialist palliative care professionals but by generalists such as GPs, district nurses and others who have not undertaken specialist training in palliative care. A key focus of recent UK policy is improving partnership working across the spectrum of palliative care provision. However there is little evid...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Invasive plants can be released from specialist herbivores and encounter novel generalists in their introduced ranges, leading to variation in defence among native and invasive populations. However, few studies have examined how constitutive and induced indirect defences change during plant invasion, especially during the juvenile stage. METHODS Constitutive extrafloral ne...

Transgenerational maternal effects on performance (rm) after host transfer were evaluated in the generalist aphid Myzus persicae s.s., and in its subspecies specialized on tobacco, M. persicae nicotianae Blackman. We tested whether the performance of these taxa, when reared separately on optimal and suboptimal hosts (as sources of different maternal background) and then transferred to optimal h...

Despite the importance of plant-herbivore interactions to the ecology and evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the evolutionary factors contributing to variation in plant defenses against herbivores remain unresolved. We used a comparative phylogenetic approach to examine a previously untested hypothesis (Recombination-Mating System Hypothesis) that posits that reduced sexual reproduction limit...