Oviposition behavior in phytophagous insects and entomophagous parasitoids is often modified by the presence of conspecific brood (eggs and larvae). Often, females avoid laying eggs on or in hosts bearing brood, a behavior that acts to reduce the level of competition suffered by their offspring. Avoidance of occupied hosts is typically mediated by cues and/or signals associated with brood. In t...

anastrepha bezzii (diptera: tephritidae) larvae are common inside fruits of sterculia chicha (malvaceae) in minas gerais state, brazil. the seed dormancy and attack by a. bezzii of the native species s.chicha can be detrimental to seed germination and thus the natural spread of this plant. the objectives of the current study were to compare ecological observations of a. bezzii and s. chicha in ...

Jatropha curcas has a high biofuel oil content, which could replace polluting fuels, and has great potential for large scale monoculture cultivation in the conventional system. We explored the occurrence, spatial distribution and the functional response of the main phytophagous species of this plant and their natural enemies to explore the potential for conservative biological control. We began...

This review deals with phytocystatins, focussing on their potential role as defence proteins against phytophagous arthropods. Information about the evolutionary, molecular and biochemical features and inhibitory properties of phytocystatins are presented. Cystatin ability to inhibit heterologous cysteine protease activities is commented on as well as some approaches of tailoring cystatin specif...

The parasites that normally cause fish disease under farming condition possess a direct life cycle with no need to intermediate hosts for dissemination. The ensuing infection can therefore spread rapidly inducing more damaging lesions in the external parts of host especially the gills. In this study, in order to isolate and identify foreign parasites of phytophagous fish in Guilan province, 4 f...

Bats of the family Phyllostomidae are fundamental components of Neotropical mammalian diversity and display the greatest dietary diversity seen in any mammalian family. We studied trophic structure in a species-rich local assemblage of phyllostomids for which dietary data were collected during 10 years on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Correspondence analysis of /3800 dietary records from 30 sy...

Arthropods from four genetically modified (GM) maize hybrids (coleopteran resistant, coleopteran and lepidopteran resistant, lepidopteran resistant+herbicide tolerant and coleopteran resistant and herbicide tolerant) and non-GM varieties were sampled during a two-year field assessment. A total number of 363 555 arthropod individuals were collected. This represents the most comprehensive arthrop...

Spatial heterogeneity within individual host trees is often overlooked in surveys of phytophagous arthropod abundance and distribution. The armored scale Aulacaspis yasumatsui is controlled by the predator Rhyzobius lophanthae to a greater degree on leaves at 75-cm height than on leaves at ground level within its host tree Cycas micronesica. The direct influence of elevation on the predator ind...