Herbivore kairomones affect germination speed, seedling growth, and herbivory.

Seeds and seedlings are particularly vulnerable to herbivory. Unlike mature plants, which can wait until herbivory is experienced to induce defense, seeds and seedlings face mortality if they wait. Slug mucus functions as a kairomone, a non-attack-related substance emitted by consumers that is detected by a prey species (in this case, plants).

Caterpillar movement mediates spatially local interactions and determines the relationship between population density and contact.

Background: While interactions in nature are inherently local, ecological models often assume homogeneity across space, allowing for generalization across systems and greater mathematical tractability. Density-dependent disease models are a prominent example of models that assume homogeneous interactions, leading to the prediction that disease transmission will scale linearly with population density. In this study, we examined how the scale of larval butterfly movement interacts with the resource landscape to influence the relationship between larval contact and population density in the Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton).

Novel host plant use by a specialist insect depends on geographic variation in both the host and herbivore species.

Understanding the circumstances under which insect herbivores will adopt a novel host plant is a longstanding question in basic and applied ecology. While geographic variation in host use can arise through differences in both herbivore preference and plant characteristics, there is a tendency to attribute geographic variation in host use to regional differences in herbivore preference alone. This is especially true for herbivores specialized to one or a few plant species.

Use of ventilation/perfusion mismatch to guide individualised CPAP level selection in preterm infants: a feasibility trial.

Objective: To measure within-subject changes in ventilation/perfusion (V'/Q') mismatch in response to a protocol of individualised nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) level selection.

Design: Single-arm, non-randomised, feasibility trial.

Setting: Three centres in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia neonatal care network.

The Chemistry of Green and Roasted Coffee by Selectable 1D/2D Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry with Spectral Deconvolution.

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is a long-standing technique for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). When coupled with the Ion Analytics software, GC/MS provides unmatched selectivity in the analysis of complex mixtures and it reduces the reliance on high-resolution chromatography to obtain clean mass spectra. Here, we present an application of spectral deconvolution, with mass spectral subtraction, to identify a wide array of VOCs in green and roasted coffees.