scholarly journals Odonata: Who They Are and What They Have Done for Us Lately: Classification and Ecosystem Services of Dragonflies

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael May
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Insect Flight ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Disease Vectors ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
New Information ◽  
And Control

Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) are well-known but often poorly understood insects. Their phylogeny and classification have proved difficult to understand but, through use of modern morphological and molecular techniques, is becoming better understood and is discussed here. Although not considered to be of high economic importance, they do provide esthetic/spiritual benefits to humans, and may have some impact as predators of disease vectors and agricultural pests. In addition, their larvae are very important as intermediate or top predators in many aquatic ecosystems. More recently, they have been the objects of study that have yielded new information on the mechanics and control of insect flight.

scholarly journals Host-Symbiont Interactions for Potentially Managing Heteropteran Pests

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Souza Prado ◽  
Tiago Domingues Zucchi
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Disease Vectors ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
True Bugs ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Biological Aspects ◽  
Alternative Techniques ◽  
Insect Group

Insects in the suborder Heteroptera, the so-called true bugs, include over 40,000 species worldwide. This insect group includes many important agricultural pests and disease vectors, which often have bacterial symbionts associated with them. Some symbionts have coevolved with their hosts to the extent that host fitness is compromised with the removal or alteration of their symbiont. The first bug/microbial interactions were discovered over 50 years ago. Only recently, mainly due to advances in molecular techniques, has the nature of these associations become clearer. Some researchers have pursued the genetic modification (paratransgenesis) of symbionts for disease control or pest management. With the increasing interest and understanding of the bug/symbiont associations and their ecological and physiological features, it will only be a matter of time before pest/vector control programs utilize this information and technique. This paper will focus on recent discoveries of the major symbiotic systems in Heteroptera, highlighting how the understanding of the evolutionary and biological aspects of these relationships may lead to the development of alternative techniques for efficient heteropteran pest control and suppression of diseases vectored by Heteroptera.

Medical Entomology for Students 3rd Edn. By M. W. Service, pp. 285. Cambridge University Press UK, 2004. ISBN 0 521 54775 X. £27.00. (US $48.00)

Parasitology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-436
Author(s):  
RICHARD D. WARD
Keyword(s):  
Diamondback Moth ◽  
Bed Nets ◽  
Synthetic Pyrethroids ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Realistic Potential ◽  
Medical Entomology ◽  
New Information ◽  
Similar Vein ◽  
And Control

Four years on from the 2nd Edition of this useful introductory text this book remains good value at a modest price rise of only £5.00. In twenty chapters Professor Service follows his well-worked and consistent pattern in each chapter by describing the morphology of each group of vectors, followed by life-cycle, medical importance and control. The further reading information provided at the end of each chapter has been updated wherever relevant. In addition, as an aide-mémoire to revising, certain key words now appear in bold. In many groups, new information is provided on the numbers of species now described. In the case of mosquitoes this is now 3300, an increase of 100 and there are now 4 further genera including Ochlerotatus, a previous subgenus of Aedes. Outstanding developments in control include the innovative development of manufactured bed nets that are impregnated with synthetic pyrethroids, which are designed to release the active molecule over periods as long as four years. Mike Service is, however, cautious, and warns that despite our great hopes for this new development, the incidence of resistance to pyrethroids is a realistic potential threat to its success. In similar vein it is noted that mosquitoes in the laboratory have been observed to develop resistance to the bacterial insecticides Bacillus thuringiensis and B. sphaericus. This has not as yet proved to be a problem in the field with mosquitoes, but experience with agricultural pests, such as the diamondback moth, indicates the need for vigilance.

scholarly journals Mating Disruption of Pseudococcus calceolariae (Maskell) (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae) in Fruit Crops

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Carolina Ballesteros ◽  
Alda Romero ◽  
María Colomba Castro ◽  
Sofía Miranda ◽  
Jan Bergmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Mating Disruption ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Fruit Crops ◽  
Potential Control ◽  
The Third ◽  
Pseudococcus Calceolariae ◽  
And Control ◽  
Potential Use ◽  
Control Tool

Pseudococcus calceolariae, the citrophilous mealybug, is a species of economic importance. Mating disruption (MD) is a potential control tool. During 2017–2020, trials were conducted to evaluate the potential of P. calceolariae MD in an apple and a tangerine orchard. Two pheromone doses, 6.32 g/ha (2017–2018) and 9.45 g/ha (2019–2020), were tested. The intermediate season (2018–2019) was evaluated without pheromone renewal to study the persistence of the pheromone effect. Male captures in pheromone traps, mealybug population/plant, percentage of infested fruit at harvest and mating disruption index (MDI) were recorded regularly. In both orchards, in the first season, male captures were significantly lower in MD plots compared to control plots, with an MDI > 94% in the first month after pheromone deployment. During the second season, significantly lower male captures in MD plots were still observed, with an average MDI of 80%. At the third season, male captures were again significant lower in MD than control plots shortly after pheromone applications. In both orchards, population by visual inspection and infested fruits were very low, without differences between MD and control plots. These results show the potential use of mating disruption for the control of P. calceolariae.

scholarly journals Practices of sustainability and the enactment of their natures/cultures: Ecosystem services, rights of nature, and geoengineering

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842199894
Author(s):  
Frank Adloff ◽  
Iris Hilbrich
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Knowledge Cultures ◽  
Rights Of Nature ◽  
Value Of Nature ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

Possible trajectories of sustainability are based on different concepts of nature. The article starts out from three trajectories of sustainability (modernization, transformation and control) and reconstructs one characteristic practice for each path with its specific conceptions of nature. The notion that nature provides human societies with relevant ecosystem services is typical of the path of modernization. Nature is reified and monetarized here, with regard to its utility for human societies. Practices of transformation, in contrast, emphasize the intrinsic ethical value of nature. This becomes particularly apparent in discourses on the rights of nature, whose starting point can be found in Latin American indigenous discourses, among others. Control practices such as geoengineering are based on earth-systemic conceptions of nature, in which no distinction is made between natural and social systems. The aim is to control the earth system as a whole in order for human societies to remain viable. Practices of sustainability thus show different ontological understandings of nature (dualistic or monistic) on the one hand and (implicit) ethics and sacralizations (anthropocentric or biocentric) on the other. The three reconstructed natures/cultures have different ontological and ethical affinities and conflict with each other. They are linked to very different knowledge cultures and life-worlds, which answer very differently to the question of what is of value in a society and in nature and how these values ought to be protected.

Distribution and density of lobsters in the Brazilian oceanic ecosystem Rocas Atoll

Crustaceana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Gaeta ◽  
Raúl Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Economic Importance ◽  
Panulirus Argus ◽  
Top Predator ◽  
Visual Census ◽  
Benthic Ecosystems ◽  
Oceanic Ecosystem ◽  
And Control ◽  
Trophic Webs ◽  
Future Information

Abstract Lobsters are recognizable faunal elements that play an important role as top predator in the trophic webs in benthic ecosystems and have an economic importance due to the intensive and valuable fishery. In Rocas Atoll (03°51′S 33°48′W) the presence of five species of lobsters in low tide pools was observed by visual census. These were: Enoplometopus antillensis Lütken, 1865; Palinurellus gundlachi Von Martens, 1878; Panulirus argus (Latreille, 1804); Panulirus echinatus Smith, 1869; and Parribacus antarcticus (Lund, 1793). This atoll appears to be dominated by P. echinatus followed by P. argus, P. antarcticus, P. gundlachi and E. antillensis, respectively. We also observed the presence of some potential predators that perhaps feed on lobster species and control these populations in the atoll. This work and future information could help to better understand the variability of lobster diversity and density in this unique atoll.

A global review of arthropod-mediated ecosystem-services in Vaccinium berry agroecosystems

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Jones ◽  
Henri Vanhanen ◽  
Rainer Peltola ◽  
Frank Drummond
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Insect Pest ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Fruit Crops ◽  
Beneficial Arthropods ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Arthropod Fauna ◽  
Production Practices

Native beneficial arthropods, including bees, predators, and parasitoids, provide valuable ecosystem services, which help to maintain agricultural productivity and reduce the need for pesticide inputs.Vacciniumberry species are somewhat unique compared to many of the world’s fruit crops in that, up until recently, most of the harvesting and culture of species for food occurred in the geographic regions of their origin. This suggests that insects involved in many of the ecosystem services for these berries are native species that have a shared co-evolutionary history. Due to the shared phylogenetic origins of theVacciniumspp. agroecosystems, the shared need for efficient pollination, and a number of shared agricultural pests, the potential exists for research from these related systems to closely apply to agroecosystems within the same genus. This review brings together research regarding arthropod-mediated ecosystem services from a number of prominentVacciniumagroecosystems worldwide. In total, thirty-nine ecosystem service studies are discussed. These studies quantified arthropod-mediated ecosystem services being provisioned toVacciniumagroecosystems. Additionally, thirty-nine surveys of arthropods closely associated and/or providing ecosystem services toVacciniumsystems are also reviewed. Studies took place almost exclusively in temperate regions with a heavy emphasis on insect pest biological control and pollination services. It is our hope that by synthesizing this body of literature, researchers and growers might be able to utilize research methods, results, and conservation recommendations despite differences in production practices and local arthropod fauna.

scholarly journals Capturing the transcription factor interactome in response to sub-lethal insecticide exposure

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria A Ingham ◽  
Sara Elg ◽  
Sanjay C Nagi ◽  
Frank Dondelinger
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Lethal Dose ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Dynamic Bayesian Networks ◽  
Disease Vectors ◽  
Anopheles Coluzzii ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Insecticide Exposure

AbstractThe increasing levels of pesticide resistance in agricultural pests and disease vectors represents a threat to both food security and global health. As insecticide resistance intensity strengthens and spreads, the likelihood of a pest encountering a sub-lethal dose of pesticide dramatically increases. Here, we apply dynamic Bayesian networks to a transcriptome time-course generated using sub-lethal pyrethroid exposure on a highly resistant Anopheles coluzzii population. The model accounts for circadian rhythm and ageing effects allowing high confidence identification of transcription factors with key roles in pesticide response. The associations generated by this model show high concordance with lab-based validation and identifies 44 transcription factors regulating insecticide-responsive transcripts. We identify six key regulators, with each displaying differing enrichment terms, demonstrating the complexity of pesticide response. The considerable overlap of resistance mechanisms in agricultural pests and disease vectors strongly suggests that these findings are relevant in a wide variety of pest species.

scholarly journals Downregulation of CD40L–CD40 attenuates seizure susceptibility and severity of seizures

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Pototskiy ◽  
Katherine Vinokuroff ◽  
Andrew Ojeda ◽  
C. Kendall Major ◽  
Deepak Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Seizure Susceptibility ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Seizure Severity ◽  
Cd40 Expression ◽  
Neuro Inflammation ◽  
And Control ◽  
Deficient Mice

AbstractUnregulated neuro-inflammation mediates seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Our aim was to determine the effect of CD40–CD40L activation in experimental seizures. CD40 deficient mice (CD40KO) and control mice (wild type, WT) received pentenyltetrazole (PTZ) or pilocarpine to evaluate seizures and status epilepticus (SE) respectively. In mice, anti-CD40L antibody was administered intranasally before PTZ. Brain samples from human TLE and post-seizure mice were processed to determine CD40–CD40L expression using histological and molecular techniques. CD40 expression was higher in hippocampus from human TLE and in cortical neurons and hippocampal neural terminals after experimental seizures. CD40–CD40L levels increased after seizures in the hippocampus and in the cortex. After SE, CD40L/CD40 levels increased in cortex and showed an upward trend in the hippocampus. CD40KO mice demonstrated reduction in seizure severity and in latency compared to WT mice. Anti-CD40L antibody limited seizure susceptibility and seizure severity. CD40L–CD40 interaction can serve as a target for an immuno-therapy for TLE.

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