Digital plant doctor diagnoses plant problems
...county faculty in the basics of plant pathogensand insect identification," said UF entomologist Dick Sprenkle. "The archivewill give them a wealth of knowledge that can eventually be used to diagnosea problem on-site." The DDIS is now available at extension agencies throughout Florida.Currently, agents in t...Congress briefs: International congress on ecosystem health
...ams in California" Summary: Jim Carey, a UC Davis insect demographer and Mediterranean fruit flyexpert, will discuss the differences between eradicating and controllinginvading exotic pests. The economic advantage of eradication over control isthe essential difference between the two approaches, says Care......itation of a previous male'ssperm. In most insect species, the second male to copulate with a female siresmost of her offspring. Scientists have long puzzled over this strangephenomenon, also seen in birds and some arachnids. Female fruit flies mate with multiple males, storing the sperm i......ecome evident until next summer how vegetation and insect life have reacted tothe fire. SwedishEPA hopes that some of the more than 30 red-listed insects, e.g. sooty blackflatheaded borer, thecarabid beetle Agonum quadripunctatum, and the longhorn beetle Acmaeopsseptentrionis will beattracted to the inciner...Response to cocaine linked to biological clock genes
...se. For the past several years, Dr. Hirsh has used insect model systems to probesome of the brain's molecular mysteries, such as the circuitry involved inlearning, memory, and muscle movement. While researching core communicationspathways in the nervous systems of fruit flies, Dr. Hirsh and his colleaguesr...Natural repellant in Spanish cedar leaves could help tropical forests
...rring substances that appear to repel aleaf-eating insect pest have been found in the leaves of Spanish ceda...ndem with the first extensive fieldobservations of insect feeding patterns on Spanish cedars. We are providingfield observations rather than mere in vitro (la...Worms will never taste the same: a new study examines how insecticides influence birds
...onomic consequences if crops were damaged byrising insect populations. The largest effects of this prey avoidance might befelt in developing nations, where insecticide application is heavy, and its useis much less regulated, than in industrialized nations. The majority of birddiversity is also found in th...Hurricane Hugo serves as living laboratory for Clemson University forest scientists
...s for new plantgrowth for deer herds and increased insect populations for wild turkeys. "Nature abhors a vacuum," said Charles A. Gresham, a Clemson forestecologist who has tracked the recovery process since Hugo hit. "Within 10years, we have seen significant recovery-- back to a fully functional,pr...USGS studies wildfire ecology in the western United States
...per acre. In these dense forests, destructive insect outbreaks are common. And fires, when they do get established, now often leave the ground and climb "ladder fuels" into the treetops. "We did not start to see extensive crown fires in ponderosa pine forests until around the 1950s," Allen says. "It to...USGS finds elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides in Aleutian bald eagles
...mical compounds invented to kill agricultural insect pests. These chlorinated hydrocarbons work mainly by blocking nerve impulses necessary for normal bodily functions. Unfortunately, they are long-lived, toxic to most animals and can be converted to even more deadly compounds as they de...Researchers say hormones are key to evolution of insect metamorphosis
...h the same development as some of itsmore advanced insect cousins. Four insect groups comprising beetles, bees and ants, moths and butterflies, andflies and mosquitoes make up nea...Threats to health reduced with Bt corn hybrids
...in fungal plant diseases, whichcan be increased by insect damage in crops. Insect larvae chew on stalks andkernels, creating wounds where fungal spores can enter the plant. Onceestablished, these fungi often produce mycotoxins. Some mycotoxins such asfumonisin, can be fatal to horses and pigs, and are pro...Desert bees hedge their bets, wait for the wet
...yone is a worker. They are the soccer moms of the insect world," he says. His research shows that rain triggers the bees' emergence from the larval state into pupae, and then finally into adult desert bees. The lower the larval weight, he found, the better the chance for the bees to emerge. Interestingly...NYU researchers find that genetically engineered corn releases insecticidal toxin into soil
...at these plants exude. It might improve control of insect pests. It might enhance the rate at which insect pests become resistant to the toxin. It might negatively impact beneficial insects. These are trou...Fossil mayflies can be used to 'weigh' ancient atmospheres
...o measure atmospheric pressure, a primitive winged insect was experimentally measuring air's density and lea...g to a Cornell University geologist. Because that insect -- the common mayfly -- has persisted with little change since its appearance some 300 million years...Millenium bug found by CSIRO scientists
...cientifically described fewer than a third of the insect species on this continent. The work of exploring Australia scientifically is still in its early stages." The World fauna of semi-aquatic bugs is placed in eight families of which six are represented in the Australian fauna. Today, about 126 species a...Formosan termite may be top concern of entomologists of the new millenium, according to report
...ow approaching a dizzying $1 billion a yearand the insect is still largely confined to the Gulf Coast. If th...th ecological changes that have favored increasing insect populations. These, said Hunter, include dam construction, development projects and deforestation. I...Rate of sound impulses markedly affects ability to perceive volume
...echoes from the fluttering wings of their favorite insect prey when the sound was offered in rapid chains of pulses. "In the real world, sound rarely occurs in isolation," said Albert S. Feng, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology and a neuroscientist at the U. of I. Beckman Institute for Adva......r pocket-sized surveillance technologies featuring insect vision, says the author of a 4 February Science ...flying vehicles that incorporate some principle of insect vision to avoid obstacles, perhaps for surveillance applications," Srinivasan says. Such technologie......d we're going to find this thing.' We looked in an insect virus pathology book and realized we had been looking at the wrong magnification. So we went back Monday evening and cranked up the magnification and there it was!" "It was one of the most exciting times I remember having in the lab," recollects Dav...