A population of 216 specimens of Stenocereus eichlamii (Cactaceae, Subfamily Cereoideae) was surveyed for Triatoma ryckmani (vector of Chagas disease) in a one hectare plot of semiarid habitat in Guatemala. Out of 44 plants that had dead and dry sections, 24 plants had a total of 103 specimens of T. ryckmani. In comparison with other areas of Guatemala, T ryckmani is well established in the sem...

A portion of Arizona's San Pedro River is managed as a National Riparian Conservation Area but is potentially affected by ground-water withdrawals beyond the conservation area borders. We applied an assessment model to the Conservation Area as a basis for monitoring long-term changes in riparian ecosystem condition resulting from changes in river water availability, and collected multi-year dat...

Growth and survival of young European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is largely dependent on water availability. We quantified the influence of water stress (measured as Available Soil Water Storage Capacity or ASWSC) on vitality of young beech plants at a dry site. The study site was located in a semi-natural sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl.) stand adjacent to beech stands on a roc...

Plants respond to insect oviposition by emission of oviposition-induced plant volatiles (OIPVs) which can recruit egg parasitoids of the attacking herbivore. To date, studies demonstrating egg parasitoid attraction to OIPVs have been carried out in tritrophic systems consisting of one species each of plant, herbivore host, and the associated egg parasitoid. Less attention has been given to plan...

Multitrophic interactions are likely to be altered by climate change but there is little empirical evidence relating the responses of herbivores and parasitoids to abiotic factors. Here we investigated the effects of drought on an above/below-ground system comprising a generalist and a specialist aphid species (foliar herbivores), their parasitoids, and a dipteran species (root herbivore).We te...

Corn (Zea mays L.) is one of the most sensitive crops to planting pattern and early-season uniformity. The most common method to determine number of plants is by visual inspection on the ground but this field activity becomes time-consuming, labor-intensive, biased, and may lead to less profitable decisions by farmers. The objective of this study was to develop a reliable, timely, and unbiased ...

In recent years, the addition of microorganisms such as Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) and mycorrhiza are becoming more popular, both in research as well as in practical use. While inoculants are usually not necessary for plants cultivated outdoors on biologically active soil, they can be useful on sterile substrates, newly created artificial landscapes, and also in soils that have been...

21:89-110 Natural Areas Journal ABSTRACT: Southeastern United States habitats dominated by longleaf pine (Pinus palus t r i s Miller) and associated plant species have declined dangerously. Conservation of rare and common plants of longleaf pine habitats may be aided by starting new populations in the field. We review methods for initiating plant populations and integrate information from our s...

Plants in terrestrial systems have evolved in direct association with microbes functioning as both agonists and antagonists of plant fitness and adaptability. As such, investigations that segregate plants and microbes provide only a limited scope of the biotic interactions that dictate plant community structure and composition in natural systems. Invasive plants provide an excellent working mod...

We evaluated the abundance of nonnative plants on fuel breaks and in adjacent untreated areas to determine if fuel treatments promote the invasion of nonnative plant species. Understanding the relationship between fuel treatments and nonnative plants is becoming increasingly important as federal and state agencies are currently implementing large fuel treatment programs throughout the United St...