The Role of Wind and Semiochemicals in Mediating Switching Behavior in the Southern Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae).

Aggressive bark beetles colonize and kill healthy conifers through pheromone-mediated mass aggregation. In several species, the focal point of aggregation moves progressively from mass-attacked 'focus trees' to adjacent, unattacked 'recipient trees', resulting in infestation growth. This process, termed 'switching', is hypothesized to be mediated in whole or in part by antiaggregation pheromones released by beetles as colonization intensifies on a focus tree.

Some Effects of endo-Brevicomin Background on Southern Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Aggregation Behavior.

Semiochemical background in the environment can influence insect orientation to release points of the same or different semiochemicals. endo-Brevicomin is a pheromone component of the tree-killing bark beetle Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) that has a biphasic dose-response curve, enhancing attraction at low release rates but reducing attraction at high rates. We investigated the effect of artificial manipulation of background levels of endo-brevicomin on D.

Alternative Formulations of Trap Lures for Operational Detection, Population Monitoring, and Outbreak Forecasting of Southern Pine Beetle in the United States.

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is a major destructive pest of Pinus L. In the southeastern United States, numbers of this species and a major predator, Thanasimus dubius (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cleridae), captured during an annual springtime trapping survey are used to make forecasts of the likelihood and severity of an outbreak during the following summer. We investigated responses by both species to six lure formulations to evaluate their suitability for the survey and allow integration of historical data sets produced with differing lure compositions.

Evidence for Semiochemical Divergence Between Sibling Bark Beetle Species: Dendroctonus brevicomis and Dendroctonus barberi.

We investigated geographic variation in the semiochemistry of major disturbance agents of western North American pine forests, Dendroctonus brevicomis Le Conte and Dendroctonus barberi Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), species separated by the Great Basin in the USA that until recently were synonymous. At 15 sites in the western USA and northern Mexico, beetle populations were examined to determine (1) pheromone production by solitary, mining females, (2) male electroantennogram amplitudes in response to known semiochemicals for the genus, or (3) relative attractiveness of two female-produced pheromone components (endo- and exo-brevicomin) and two host odors (alpha-pinene and myrcene) to beetles in the field. Compared to female beetles collected east of the Great Basin (D.

Evaluation of Emamectin Benzoate and Propiconazole for Management of a New Invasive Shot Hole Borer (Euwallacea nr. fornicatus, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Symbiotic Fungi in California Sycamores.

The polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea nr. fornicatus, Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), an exotic and invasive ambrosia beetle, was recently found attacking a number of tree species in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties in southern California. Their colonization and subsequent inoculation of a suite of symbiotic fungi that cause Fusarium Dieback, has resulted in extensive mortality of some tree species, including, California sycamore (Platanus racemose Nutt.

Variation in Seed Allergen Content From Three Varieties of Soybean Cultivated in Nine Different Locations in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.

Soybean () is an important food stock, and also considered an allergenic food with at least eight well characterized allergens. However, it is a less prevalent allergen source than many other foods and is rarely life-threatening. Soybean is incorporated into commonly consumed foods, and therefore, the allergens pose a potential concern for individuals already sensitized.

Intra-Annual Variation in Responses by Flying Southern Pine Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) to Pheromone Component endo-Brevicomin.

The southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is attracted to an aggregation pheromone that includes the multifunctional pheromone component endo-brevicomin. The effect of endo-brevicomin on attractive lures varies from strong enhancement to reduction of beetle attraction depending upon release rate, lure component spacing, and proximity of beetle infestations. Anecdotal observations have further suggested that the effects of endo-brevicomin vary during the year.

Western Pine Beetle Populations in Arizona and California Differ in the Composition of Their Aggregation Pheromones.

We compared pheromone production and response for populations of western pine beetle, Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte, from sites in northern Arizona and northern California. Volatiles were collected from individuals of both sexes that had mined as a pair in a Pinus ponderosa log for 1 d, and they were subsequently analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass-spectrometry. Principal component analysis of quantities of Dendroctonus pheromone components indicated strong site-associated clustering of blend composition for females but not males.

The redbay ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) uses stem silhouette diameter as a visual host-finding cue.

The redbay ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus Eichhoff) is an invasive pest and vector of the pathogen that causes laurel wilt disease in Lauraceous tree species in the eastern United States. This insect uses olfactory cues during host finding, but use of visual cues by X. glabratus has not been previously investigated and may help explain diameter-related patterns in host tree mortality.

Maximum likelihood estimation of time to first event in the presence of data gaps and multiple events.

We propose a novel likelihood method for analyzing time-to-event data when multiple events and multiple missing data intervals are possible prior to the first observed event for a given subject. This research is motivated by data obtained from a heart monitor used to track the recovery process of subjects experiencing an acute myocardial infarction. The time to first recovery, T1, is defined as the time when the ST-segment deviation first falls below 50% of the previous peak level.

Comments on the paper "A statistical assessment of differences and equivalences between genetically modified and reference plant varieties" by van der Voet et al. 2011.

van der Voet et al. (2011) describe statistical methodology that the European Food Safety Authority expects an applicant to adopt when making a GM crop regulatory submission. Key to their proposed methodology is the inclusion of reference varieties in the experimental design to provide a measure of natural variation amongst commercially grown crops.

Field observations of oviposition by a specialist herbivore on plant parts and plant species unsuitable as larval food.

Where a female places her eggs can have a major impact on the fitness of her offspring, especially for insects in which the winged adults are far more mobile than the neonates. Larvae of Heliothis subflexa (Guenee) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a specialist moth phylogenetically nested within a generalist clade, feed only on fruit of some Physalis species. Field observations of the oviposition behavior of H.

Variable responses by southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, to the pheromone component endo-brevicomin: influence of enantiomeric composition, release rate, and proximity to infestations.

The male-produced bicyclic acetal endo-brevicomin is a component of the pheromone blend that mediates colonization of host pines by the bark beetle Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann. Efforts to identify its behavioral function have been complicated by contrasting reports that it either enhances or reduces attraction of flying beetles. Our studies failed to support the hypothesis that this published variability is due to differences in release rate and/or the enantiomeric composition [i.

Long-term effects of changing land use practices on surface water quality in a coastal river and lagoonal estuary.

The watershed of the Neuse River, a major tributary of the largest lagoonal estuary on the U.S. mainland, has sustained rapid growth of human and swine populations.

Modeling misidentification errors in capture-recapture studies using photographic identification of evolving marks.

Misidentification of animals is potentially important when naturally existing features (natural tags) are used to identify individual animals in a capture-recapture study. Photographic identification (photoID) typically uses photographic images of animals' naturally existing features as tags (photographic tags) and is subject to two main causes of identification errors: those related to quality of photographs (non-evolving natural tags) and those related to changes in natural marks (evolving natural tags). The conventional methods for analysis of capture-recapture data do not account for identification errors, and to do so requires a detailed understanding of the misidentification mechanism.

Differential attraction of Heliothis subflexa males to synthetic pheromone lures in Eastern US and Western Mexico.

The mate attraction signal of Heliothis subflexa (Hs) females consists of a multicomponent sex pheromone blend. In this study, we assessed the intraspecific importance of three groups of compounds found in Hs pheromone glands: three acetate esters (Z7-16:OAc, Z9-16:OAc, and Z11-16:OAc), two 14-carbon aldehydes (14:Ald and Z9-14:Ald), and one 16-carbon alcohol (Z11-16:OH). Because the relative importance of pheromone components may vary in different regions, we conducted experiments in Eastern US (North Carolina) and Western Mexico (Jalisco).

Effect of PBAN on pheromone production by mated Heliothis virescens and Heliothis subflexa females.

Mated female Heliothis virescens and H. subflexa were induced to produce sex pheromone during the photophase by injection of pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN). When injected with 1 pmol Hez-PBAN, the total amount of pheromone that could be extracted from glands of mated females during the photophase was similar to that extracted from virgin females in the scotophase.

Comparative impacts of two major hurricane seasons on the Neuse River and western Pamlico Sound ecosystems.

Ecosystem-level impacts of two hurricane seasons were compared several years after the storms in the largest lagoonal estuary in the U.S., the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System.