Epidemic populations of mountain pine beetle highlight the need to understand landscape scale spatial patterns of infestation. The observed infestation patterns were explored using a randomization procedure conditioned on the probability of forest risk to beetle attack. Four randomization algorithms reflecting different representations of the data and beetle processes were investigated. Local t...

T he southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus fiontalis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), and the red-cockaded woodpecker, Picoides borealis, are indigenous species that occur together in pine (Pinus sp.) forests of the southern United States. For different reasons, these organisms have been the focus of considerable research. Interest in the southern pine beetle centers on the role this insect plays as a pe...

In this study, wood-water interactions of mountain pine beetle affected lodgepole pine were found to vary with time since death. Based on an analysis of magnetization components and spin-spin relaxation times from 1H NMR, it was determined that the mountain pine beetle attack does not affect the crystalline structure of the wood. Both the amorphous structure and the water components vary with t...

For at least the past decade, an unusual decline of black walnut (Juglans nigra) has been observed in several western states. Initial symptoms involve a yellowing and thinning of the upper crown, which progresses to include death of progressively larger branches (Figure 1). During the final stages large areas of foliage may rapidly wilt. Trees often are killed within three years after initial s...

Dermatitis caused by bombardier beetles is rarely reported. Here, we report a case of beetle-caused dermatitis that occurred in Pará State, the Brazilian Amazon. A female patient while putting on her shoes, felt a burning pain in the right hallux and noticed a beetle inside the shoe. During medical consultation, the physician observed that the injury site was brown and discolored. The patient c...

Evidence from Drosophila suggests that Hox genes not only specify regional identity, but have the additional function of repressing antennal development within their normal domains. This is dramatically demonstrated by a series of Hox mutants in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and is likely an ancient function of Hox genes in insects.

The potential of tobacco waste as a viable source of medicinally important flavonoids like rutin has been investigated. Three flavonoids, apigenin, quercetin and rutin, have been isolated from waste tobacco leaves, and their identities have been confirmed by UV-visible, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. By using analytical HPLC, the amount of rutin present in the tobacco leaves, before and after...