In southern England, Linaria vulgaris (common yellow toadflax) suffers from high rates of nectar robbery by bumblebees. In a wild population of L. vulgaris we found that 96 % of open flowers were robbed. Five species of bumblebee were observed foraging on these flowers, although short-tongued species (Bombus lapidarius, B. lucorum and B. terrestris) robbed nectar whilst longer-tongued ones beha...

Many angiosperms prevent inbreeding through a self-incompatibility (SI) system, but the loss of SI has been frequent in their evolutionary history. The loss of SI may often lead to an increase in the selfing rate, with the purging of inbreeding depression and the ultimate evolution of a selfing syndrome, where plants have smaller flowers with reduced pollen and nectar production. In this study,...

Environmental risk assessments characterizing potential environmental impacts of exotic weeds are more abundant and comprehensive for potential or new invaders than for widespread and well-established species such as Dalmatian (Linaria dalmatica [L.] Mill.) and yellow (L. vulgaris Mill.) toadflax. Specific effects evaluated in our assessment of environmental risks posed by yellow and Dalmatian ...

Successful biological control of invasive weeds with specialist herbivorous insects is predicated on the assumption that the injury stresses the weeds sufÞciently to cause reductions in individual Þtness. Because plant gas exchange directly impacts growth and Þtness, characterizing how injury affects these primary processes may provide a key indicator of physiological impairmentÑ which then may...

Our objective was to compare 1.09 M methanolic HCl to 14% BF3 in methanol as catalysts for direct transesterification of fatty acids in freeze-dried forage samples. Samples included blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), fringed sage (Artemisia frigida), western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), needle-and-thread (Stipa comata), dalmation toadflax (Linaria dalmatica), needleleaf sedge (Carex eleochari...