Fungicides and strawberry pollination-Effects on floral scent, pollen attributes and bumblebee behavior.

Fungicides are used in agriculture to protect crops from various fungal diseases. However, they may modulate the plants metabolism. Moreover, fungicides can accumulate in the environment and may cause toxic effects on non-target organisms such as nectar microbes and pollinators.

Influences of chemotype and parental genotype on metabolic fingerprints of tansy plants uncovered by predictive metabolomics.

Intraspecific plant chemodiversity shapes plant-environment interactions. Within species, chemotypes can be defined according to variation in dominant specialised metabolites belonging to certain classes. Different ecological functions could be assigned to these distinct chemotypes.

Inter-laboratory comparison of plant volatile analyses in the light of intra-specific chemodiversity.

Introduction: Assessing intraspecific variation in plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) involves pitfalls that may bias biological interpretation, particularly when several laboratories collaborate on joint projects. Comparative, inter-laboratory ring trials can inform on the reproducibility of such analyses.

Objectives: In a ring trial involving five laboratories, we investigated the reproducibility of VOC collections with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and analyses by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS).

Floral volatiles evoke partially similar responses in both florivores and pollinators and are correlated with non-volatile reward chemicals.

Background: Plants often use floral displays to attract mutualists and prevent antagonist attacks. Chemical displays detectable from a distance include attractive or repellent floral volatile organic compounds (FVOCs). Locally, visitors perceive contact chemicals including nutrients but also deterrent or toxic constituents of pollen and nectar.

Fungicides Cuprozin Progress and SWITCH Modulate Primary and Specialized Metabolites of Strawberry Fruits.

Numerous pesticides, including fungicides, are applied every year to crop plants. However, such application may affect the plant metabolism and thus crop quality. Strawberry is an economically important crop, but the fruits are highly susceptible, especially to fungal diseases.

Intra-Individual and Intraspecific Terpenoid Diversity in .

The chemodiversity between and within individuals of several plant species is remarkable and shaped by the local habitat environment and the genetic background. The forb (Geraniaceae) is globally distributed and partly invasive. This paper hypothesizes a high intra-specific and inter-individual chemical diversity in this species and investigates this by comparing the concentration and diversity of terpenoid compounds in different plant parts, i.

Inbreeding in a dioecious plant has sex- and population origin-specific effects on its interactions with pollinators.

We study the effects of inbreeding in a dioecious plant on its interaction with pollinating insects and test whether the magnitude of such effects is shaped by plant individual sex and the evolutionary histories of plant populations. We recorded spatial, scent, colour, and rewarding flower traits as well as pollinator visitation rates in experimentally inbred and outbred, male and female plants from European and North American populations differing in their evolutionary histories. We found that inbreeding specifically impairs spatial flower traits and floral scent.

Flower Production, Headspace Volatiles, Pollen Nutrients, and Florivory in Chemotypes.

Floral volatiles and reward traits are major drivers for the behavior of mutualistic as well as antagonistic flower visitors, i.e., pollinators and florivores.

Maternal overweight is not an independent risk factor for increased birth weight, leptin and insulin in newborns of gestational diabetic women: observations from the prospective 'EaCH' cohort study.

Background: Both gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as well as overweight/obesity during pregnancy are risk factors for detrimental anthropometric and hormonal neonatal outcomes, identified to 'program' adverse health predispositions later on. While overweight/obesity are major determinants of GDM, independent effects on critical birth outcomes remain unclear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate, in women with GDM, the relative/independent impact of overweight/obesity vs.

Pollination Requirements of Almond (Prunus dulcis): Combining Laboratory and Field Experiments.

Almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D. A.

Elm leaves 'warned' by insect egg deposition reduce survival of hatching larvae by a shift in their quantitative leaf metabolite pattern.

Plants may take insect eggs on their leaves as a warning of future herbivory and intensify their defence against feeding larvae. Responsible agents are, however, largely unknown, and little knowledge is available on this phenomenon in perennial plants. We investigated how egg deposition affects the anti-herbivore defence of elm against the multivoltine elm leaf beetle.

Novel Set-Up for Low-Disturbance Sampling of Volatile and Non-volatile Compounds from Plant Roots.

Most studies on rhizosphere chemicals are carried out in substrate-free set-ups or in artificial substrates using sampling methods that require an air flow and may thus cause disturbance to the rhizosphere. Our study aimed to develop a simplified and inexpensive system that allows analysis of rhizosphere chemicals at experimentally less disturbed conditions. We designed a mesocosm in which volatile rhizosphere chemicals were sampled passively (by diffusion) without air- and water flow on polydimethylsiloxane-(PDMS) tubes.

Application of Silicone Tubing for Robust, Simple, High-throughput, and Time-resolved Analysis of Plant Volatiles in Field Experiments.

Plant volatiles (PVs) mediate manifold interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environments (Dicke and Baldwin, 2010; Holopainen and Gershenzon, 2010). An understanding of the physiological and ecological functions of PVs must therefore be based on measurements of PV emissions under natural conditions. Yet sampling PVs in natural environments is difficult, limited by the need to transport, maintain, and power instruments, or else to employ expensive sorbent devices in replicate.

A robust, simple, high-throughput technique for time-resolved plant volatile analysis in field experiments.

Plant volatiles (PVs) mediate interactions between plants and arthropods, microbes and other plants, and are involved in responses to abiotic stress. PV emissions are therefore influenced by many environmental factors, including herbivore damage, microbial invasion, and cues from neighboring plants, and also light regime, temperature, humidity and nutrient availability. Thus, an understanding of the physiological and ecological functions of PVs must be based on measurements reflecting PV emissions under natural conditions.

Sensing the underground--ultrastructure and function of sensory organs in root-feeding Melolontha melolontha (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) larvae.

Introduction: Below ground orientation in insects relies mainly on olfaction and taste. The economic impact of plant root feeding scarab beetle larvae gave rise to numerous phylogenetic and ecological studies. Detailed knowledge of the sensory capacities of these larvae is nevertheless lacking.

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and soluble VEGF receptor 1 (sFlt-1) levels in early and mature human milk from mothers of preterm versus term infants.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors regulate angiogenesis (formation of blood vessels). The soluble VEGF receptor 1 (sFlt-1) binds VEGF as a potent antagonist.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare VEGF and sFlt-1 levels in milk from mothers of preterm (n = 50) versus term (n = 49) infants in a longitudinal study.

Contribution of pollinator-mediated crops to nutrients in the human food supply.

The contribution of nutrients from animal pollinated world crops has not previously been evaluated as a biophysical measure for the value of pollination services. This study evaluates the nutritional composition of animal-pollinated world crops. We calculated pollinator dependent and independent proportions of different nutrients of world crops, employing FAO data for crop production, USDA data for nutritional composition, and pollinator dependency data according to Klein et al.

Leptin determination in colostrum and early human milk from mothers of preterm and term infants.

Background: Leptin is involved in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure and is therefore important for growth and brain development. Analytical methods used for leptin measurement in human milk differ widely in the literature and yield varying results.

Aims: To compare different preparation methods for the analysis of leptin in human milk and to investigate the leptin levels in colostrum and mature human milk from mothers of preterm or term infants.

Intrarenal abscesses due to Ureaplasma urealyticum in a transplanted kidney.

A young woman developed multiple abscesses in her transplanted kidney. Amplification of the 16S rRNA gene with subsequent sequencing revealed Ureaplasma urealyticum as the infectious agent. Microbiological diagnosis and sensitivity testing led to therapy with levofloxacin, resulting in rapid recovery of the patient.