Ongoing intensification of rice production systems in Southeast Asia is causing devastating yield losses each year due to rice hoppers. Their continuing development of immunity to resistant rice varieties and pesticide applications further complicates this problem. Hence, there is a high demand for biological control agents of rice hoppers. Egg parasitoid wasps are among the most important natu...

The Anagrus epos Girault species complex of the fairyfly wasp genus Anagrus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), egg parasitoids of Erasmoneura spp., Erythroneura spp., and other leafhoppers, is reviewed using both morphological and molecular methods. A new species, A. vulneratus Triapitsyn sp. n., is described and illustrated from specimens reared from eggs of the leafhopper Erasmoneura vulnerata...

This study evaluated how the proportional area of natural habitat surrounding a vineyard (i.e. landscape diversity) worked in conjunction with crop vigor, cultivar and rootstock selection to influence biological control of the western grape leafhopper (Erythroneura elegantula Osborn). The key natural enemies of E. elegantula are Anagrus erythroneurae S. Trjapitzin & Chiappini and A. daanei Tria...

Background The separation of runoff components within a model simulation is of great importance for a successful implementation of management measures. Diatoms could be a promising indicator for tile drainage flow due to their diverse preferences to different aquatic habitats. In this study, we collected diatom samples of 9 sites (4 tile drainage, TD, and 5 river sites, Ri) in a German lowland ...

Omalogyridae are minute gastropods with a shell diameter usually less than one millimeter and have a worldwide distribution. A reinvestigation of the type species, Omalogyra atomus (Philippi, 1841), should help to unravel the systematic affi nities of this family. Furthermore, direct comparisons of previous and the present results enable the evaluation of the advantages of the innovative method...

Biogenic particles have the potential to affect the formation of ice crystals in the atmosphere with subsequent consequences for the hydrological cycle and climate. We present laboratory observations of heterogeneous ice nucleation in immersion and deposition modes under atmospherically relevant conditions initiated by Nannochloris atomus and Emiliania huxleyi, marine phytoplankton with structu...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Chlorophyceae are important constituents of marine phytoplankton. The taxonomy of Chlorophyceae was traditionally based solely on morphological characteristics. In the present research project, genetic diversity was investigated to analyze five species of Chlorophyceae from waters of the Persian Gulf. MATERIALS AND METHODS A clone library of the ribosomal small subun...