Field-based bioassays and residue profile analysis were used to determine the relative importance of lethal and sublethal effects of imidacloprid on adult Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, in blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum L. Field-based bioassays assessed adult mortality and knockdown, and fruit and leaf injury from Japanese beetles exposed to 4-h and 7-d field-aged residues of imi...

Field and laboratory studies were conducted to identify potential resistance among crape myrtles, Lagerstroemia spp., to Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman and to flea beetles, Altica spp. Damage ratings revealed variation among cultivars in susceptibility to beetle feeding. Cultivars with Lagerstroemia fauriei Koehne in their parentage exhibited the least amount of damage in choice and ...

Gregarious organisms need to handle the trade-off between increasing food competition and the positive effects of group living, and this is particularly important for ovipositing females. We hypothesized that insect females consider how many conspecifics previously visited a host plant. In a no-choice assay, we show that the gregarious blue willow leaf beetle (Phratora vulgatissima) laid the mo...

Ecological speciation is the promotion of reproductive isolation via the divergent adaptation of populations to alternative environments. A prediction peculiar to ecological speciation is that hybrids between such populations should be adapted poorly to parental environments, yielding reduced fitness and postmating isolation. However, F(1) analyses alone cannot demonstrate that ecological ("ext...

Abstract Willow-leaf shaped sword is a kind of exclusive bronze weapon popular only in the states Ba and Shu during Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC). Its prototype may originate from Central Asia India typical example trans-regional cross-cultural artifact. Here, we present scientific study willow-leaf swords State Shuangyuan Village Cemetery, Chengdu, by pXRF MC-ICP-MS, attempted to argue for...

Experiments were carried out to evaluate the toxicity of six botanicals, Bazna (Zanthoxylum rhetsa), Ghora-neem (Melia sempervirens), Hijal (Barringtonia acutangula), Karanja (Pongamia pinnata), Mahogoni (Swietenia mahagoni) and Neem (Azadirachta indica) against red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum Herbst. Leaf and seed extracts were prepared by using acetone, methanol and water as solvents. T...

Willow species have been suggested for use in the remediation of contaminated soils due to their high biomass production, fast growth, and high accumulation of heavy metals. The tolerance and accumulation of metals may vary among willow species and varieties, and the assessment of this variability is vital for selecting willow species/varieties for phytoremediation applications. Here, we examin...