Information concerning vertebrate pests of beekeeping was gathered from state and provincial apiary inspectors through a questionnaire. Forty-eight states and 9 provinces responded. Additional pest information has been assembled from published articles. Bears represent the major vertebrate pest based on severity of damage to colonies. Total estimated losses reported amounted to $623,000 annuall...

The paper investigates the interaction between dynamic forms of incentive mechanisms (patent systems) and dynamic forms of problems (adaptations of pests and pathogens). Since biological problems recur, the design of the incentive mechanism must take into consideration: a) the need for investments into R&D that take into account the impermanence of the solution concepts; and b) the impact of th...

Genetically modified (GM) crops are used extensively worldwide to control diploid agricultural insect pests that reproduce sexually. However, future GM crops will likely soon target haplodiploid and parthenogenetic insects. As rapid pest adaptation could compromise these novel crops, strategies to manage resistance in haplodiploid and parthenogenetic pests are urgently needed. Here, we develope...

To determine the effect of changing public health surveillance methods on the reported epidemiology of Lyme disease, we analyzed Connecticut data for 1996-2007. Data were stratified by 4 surveillance methods and compared. A total of 87,174 reports were received that included 79,896 potential cases. Variations based on surveillance methods were seen. Cases reported through physician-based survei...

A young Sikh girl, aged about 14 years, was brought to me on the night of the 3rd June, 1926, with very acute inflammation of the tongue. The history given was that about 8.15 that evening when taking her evening meal, and about to consume the last morsel of it from her hand, she had suddenly felt acute pain in the tongue. Her mother thought that the girl had probably bitten her tongue and advi...

It has been hypothesized that memory-demanding ecological conditions might result in enhanced memory and an enlarged hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory processing, either via extensive memory experience or through evolutionary changes. Avian migration appears to represent one of such memory-demanding ecological conditions. We compared two subspecies of the white-crowned sparro...

It has been hypothesized that individuals who have higher demands for spatially based behaviours should show increases in hippocampal attributes. Some avian species have been shown to use a spatially based representation of their environment during migration. Further, differences in hippocampal attributes have been shown between migratory and non-migratory subspecies as well as between individu...