Bees decrease in abundance and richness along elevation gradients, while flies replace bees as the dominant flower visitors higher systems. We reviewed existing literature to determine if this global phenomenon of pollinator communities switching from occurs at same place a temperature gradient. Here we examined five studies that have documented bee-to-fly transition North America, South Europe...

Cryptic coloration is assumed to be beneficial to predators because of an increased encounter rate with unwary prey. This hypothesis is, however, very rarely, if ever, studied in the field. The aim of this study was to quantify the encounter rate and capture success of an ambush predator, in the field, as a function of its level of colour-matching with the background. We used the crab spider Mi...

No field failure of azinphosmethyl had been noticed in controlling codling moth from Oregon until 1989. However, in a study conducted by Moffitt et al. during 1986 to 1987, a codling moth population from Medford has been reported resistant to diflubenzuron. It was suspected that selection by other commonly used compounds was probably responsible for this resistance. We initiated our work in 198...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Lepanthes is one of the largest angiosperm genera (>800 species). Their non-rewarding, tiny and colourful flowers are structurally complex. Their pollination mechanism has hitherto remained unknown, but has been subject of ample speculation; the function of the minuscule labellum appendix is especially puzzling. Here, the pollination of L. glicensteinii by sexually deceived ...

The flowers of different plant species have diverse scents with varied chemical compositions. Hence, every floral scent does not uniformly affect insect feeding preferences. The blowfly, Phormia regina, is a nectar feeder, and when a fly feeds on flower nectar, its olfactory organs, antennae, and maxillary palps are exposed to the scent. Generally, feeding preference is influenced by food flavo...

Trimenia moorei (Oliv.) Philipson is an andromonoecious liane with >0.40 of the total flower buds maturing as bisexual flowers. Male and bisexual flowers are strongly scented with pollen, anther sacs and receptacle scars testing positively for volatile emissions. Scent analyses detect over 20 components. The major fatty acid derivative is 8-heptadecene, and 2-phenylethanol dominates the benzeno...