Chronic anthropogenic disturbance mediates the bottom-up influence of plant diversity on arthropods in tropical forests.

Understanding how primary productivity and diversity affect secondary productivity is an important debate in ecology with implications for biodiversity conservation. Particularly, how plant diversity influences arthropod diversity contributes to our understanding of trophic cascades and species coexistence. Previous studies show a positive correlation between plant and arthropod diversity.

Entomophagy practices, use patterns, and factors influencing perception and consumption frequency of edible insects in the Republic of Benin.

Background: Edible insects are important sources of essential nutrients and have the potential to contribute to malnutrition reduction and food security in the Republic of Benin. However, their consumption is always restricted to a limited number of sociocultural groups. To determine how the consumption of insects could be promoted as an alternative food source, this study documents the endogenous knowledge associated with edible insects and, the main factors that govern their perception and frequency consumption.

The evolutionary process of invasion in the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).

The fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda) is one of the major agricultural pest insects. FAW is native to the Americas, and its invasion was first reported in West Africa in 2016. Then it quickly spread through Africa, Asia, and Oceania, becoming one of the main threats to corn production.

Occurrence and ecological habitat effect on (C. F. Gaertn.) parasitism: implication for pest management and plant conservation.

This study determines the prevalence of shea butter tree attack by the African mistletoe and stem borers, explores statistical relationship between prevalence, land use and tree morphological traits. In a the Bohicon shea parklands in Benin, a total of 258 shea butter trees was examined and measured in ten inventory plots in fallows, ten inventories plot in savannah, and ten inventory plots in cropped fields (Agroforestry systems). The classic inference was used to estimate the prevalence of shea trees attacks and Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) of the Binomial and Beta families were used, respectively, to model the relationship between the morphological traits and the attack risk, and the relationship between the land uses and the prevalence.

White Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) landraces trait profiling and setting benchmark for breeding programs in the Republic of Benin.

To meet the high demand for white Guinea yam, there is a need to develop and release improved varieties to farmers. Unfortunately, low rate of adoption of most of the improved yam varieties by both producers and consumers was observed. Information regarding agronomic characteristics and food qualities of popular white Guinea yam landraces with high market value are not available to establish minimum standards to be considered by breeding programs.

Limited ant co-occurrence and defensive mutualism in plants in a West African savanna.

Our understanding of the role of fire and effect of ant species composition, beyond their diversity and abundance, on the effectiveness of mutualism defence is limited. Most of our knowledge of ant-plant defence in tropical Africa is biased towards East African savannas which have richer soil, higher primary productivity and a more diverse arthropods and mammal community than West African savannas. We assessed the diversity of ant species associated with species in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in the Dahomey Gap, and their impacts on elephant damage.

Associated cultivated plants in tomato cropping systems structure arthropod communities and increase the regulation.

Cultivating plant mixtures is expected to provide a higher productivity and a better control of pests and diseases. The structure of the arthropod community is a major driver of the magnitude of natural pest regulations.With the aim of optimizing pest management, a study was carried out to determine the effect of the cropping system type (tomato mono-cropping vs.

Banana and plantain production systems in Benin: ethnobotanical investigation, varietal diversity, pests, and implications for better production.

Background: The cultivated banana and plantain (Musa spp.) are valuable for nutritional and socio-economic security for millions of people worldwide. In Benin, banana and plantain are among the most produced, consumed, and traded commodities.

Vegetation structure of plantain-based agrosystems determines numerical dominance in community of ground-dwelling ants.

In tropics, ants can represent an important part of animal biomass and are known to be involved in ecosystem services, such as pest regulation. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the structuring of local ant communities is therefore important in agroecology. In the humid tropics of Africa, plantains are cropped in association with many other annual and perennial crops.

Dataset on the abundance of ants and Cosmopolites sordidus damage in plantain fields with intercropped plants.

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "Ant abundance and Cosmopolites sordidus damage in plantain fields as affected by intercropping" (A.G. Dassou, D.

Response of pest control by generalist predators to local-scale plant diversity: a meta-analysis.

Disentangling the effects of plant diversity on the control of herbivores is important for understanding agricultural sustainability. Recent studies have investigated the relationships between plant diversity and arthropod communities at the landscape scale, but few have done so at the local scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 papers containing 175 independent measures of the relationship between plant diversity and arthropod communities.

Coexistence of tumor-induced osteomalacia and primary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: To present an unusual case of coexisting tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) and primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT).

Methods: We report the clinical features, imaging studies, and the results of laboratory investigations before and after surgical resection of both a soft-tissue tumor and a parathyroid adenoma.

Results: A 44-year-old woman was referred to the endocrinology department with a diagnosis of PHPT accompanied by unusually severe hypophosphatemia, despite having received treatment with cinacalcet.