The relationships between the fruit features of Juniperus communis and the presence of fruit pests were studied in Sierra Nevada, SE Spain. The abundance of two insect species a pulp-sucking scale and a seed-predator wasp was surveyed with respect both to fruit characteristics and to viability of seeds contained therein. Seed-predator pressure was not significantly related to any fruit characte...

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has become a model for the study of a growing number of human characteristics because of the power of its genetics. Higher cognitive functions, however, might be assumed to be out of reach for the little fly. But the cumulative history of cognitive studies in insects and some of their arachnid relatives, as well as specific probing of the capabilities of ...

Flying insects perform aerial maneuvers through slight manipulations of their wing motions. Because such manipulations in wing kinematics are subtle, a reliable method is needed to properly discern consistent kinematic strategies used by the insect from inconsistent variations and measurement error. Here, we introduce a novel automated method that accurately extracts full, 3D body and wing kine...

A diverse assemblage of pollinators, such as bees, beetles, flies, and butterflies, will often visit a single plant species. However, evaluating the effect of several insects on fruit and seed production is difficult in plants visited by a variety of insects. Here, we analyzed the effect of three types of pollinators, Papilio spp., Macroglossum pyrrhosticta, and Xylocopa appendiculata on fruit ...

Fruits of Ximenia americana provide oil that is used for food and cosmetics. However, oil production potentials are limited by damages caused by the fruit flies. This research focused on the identification of the harmful insects of the ripe fruits of X. americana, the measure of morphometric and demographic parameters. Damages were also determined. Samplings were carried out in two sites and co...

Since its discovery, RNA interference has been identified as involved in many different cellular processes, and as a natural antiviral response in plants, nematodes, and insects. In insects, the small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway is the major antiviral response. In recent years, the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway also has been implicated in antiviral defense in mosquitoes infected with...

The impact of a native, leaf-feeding chrysomelid beetle (Phaedon sp. nr. oviformis) on bittercress (Cardamine cordifolia: Cruciferae), was evaluated in an exclusion experiment. Multivariate statistical analysis showed a significant increase in plant performance in the rotenone exclusion compared to performance in the paired control treatment. Plant response to the reduction of herbivory was a c...

Plants use volatile terpene compounds as odor cues for communicating with the environment. Fleshy fruits are particularly rich in volatiles that deter herbivores and attract seed dispersal agents. We have investigated how terpenes in citrus fruit peels affect the interaction between the plant, insects, and microorganisms. Because limonene represents up to 97% of the total volatiles in orange (C...

Reynolds number and thus body size may potentially limit aerodynamic force production in flying insects due to relative changes of viscous forces on the beating wings. By comparing four different species of fruit flies similar in shape but with different body mass, we have investigated how small insects cope with changes in fluid mechanical constraints on power requirements for flight and the e...

Increasing international trade and tourism have led to an increase in the introduction of exotic pests that pose a considerable economic threat to the agro-ecosystems of importing countries. Scale insects (Sternorryncha: Coccoidea) may be contaminants of export consignments from the South African deciduous fruit industry to the European Union, Israel, United Kingdom and the United States, for e...