Assessing neighbourhood-scale BTI spray applications and laboratory-based mortality testing on larval development.

Mosquitoes, particularly , pose significant public health risks by transmitting diseases like dengue, zika and chikungunya. var. (BTI) is a crucial larvicide targeting mosquitoes while sparing other organisms and the environment.

The Effect of Climatic Conditions on the Seasonality of Pest Insect Populations in Eucalyptus Plantations in the Neotropics.

Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp., Mirtaceae) stands out for its remarkable regeneration capacity, making it a valuable tool for recovering degraded areas and for reforestation. Despite its Australian origins, eucalyptus has shown remarkable adaptation to the Brazilian tropical climate, contributing to the wood productivity of the country.

Anti-Inflammatory and Antimicrobial Effects of spp. Essential Oils: A Potential Valuable Use for an Industry Byproduct.

In Brazil, the use of is focused on the production of wood or pulp for the paper industry but without any general recovery of waste, with leaves and branches being left on the ground. One possibility is to use these residues as raw materials in the production of industrially relevant and value-added compounds such as essential oil. The aim of the present study was to investigate the chemical composition, yield, anti-inflammatory/antinociceptive activities, and acute toxicity in mice, as well as the antimicrobial effects of essential oils from the leaves of 7 varieties of and hybrids against , and .

Communities of arthropods associated with the composting process of the organic solid waste produced in a landfill in Brazil.

Composting is a process recommended as a way to recycle the organic part of the solid waste in which several micro and macroorganisms act as decomposers of the organic matter, in a process that takes around 120 days and faces roughly three different phases. Because we do not know the community of arthropods associated with the compost produced in one of the biggest landfills placed in Brazil, here we collected and identified the community of arthropods present in each phase of the organic compost. Our hypothesis is that the abundance and diversity of arthropods are different within each phase of the compost and we hope to find particular groups of arthropods that can be used as indicator of specific phases.

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments.

For insects, choosing a favorable oviposition site is a type of parental care, as far as it increases the fitness of its offspring. Niche theory predicts that crickets should show a bell-shaped oviposition response to substrate moisture. However, lab experiments with mole crickets showed a linear oviposition response to substrate moisture.

A multifaceted trophic cascade in a detritus-based system: density-, trait-, or processing-chain-mediated effects?

We investigated three pathways by which predators on an intermediate trophic level may produce a trophic cascade in detritus-based systems. Predators may increase lower trophic levels (bacteria) by reducing density of bacteriovores, by altering behavior of bacteriovores, and by processing living bacteriovores into carcasses, feces, and dissolved nutrients that are substrates for bacteria. We tested these pathways in laboratory experiments with mosquitoes in water-filled containers.

Attracted to the enemy: Aedes aegypti prefers oviposition sites with predator-killed conspecifics.

Oviposition habitat choices of species with aquatic larvae are expected to be influenced by both offspring risk of mortality due to predation, and offspring growth potential. Aquatic predators may indirectly influence growth potential for prey by reducing prey density and, for filter-feeding prey, by increasing bacterial food for prey via added organic matter (feces, partially eaten victims), creating the potential for interactive effects on oviposition choices. We tested the hypothesis that the mosquito Aedes aegypti preferentially oviposits in habitats with predatory Toxorhynchites larvae because of indirect effects of predation on chemical cues indicating bacterial abundance.