Spatial Aggregations of the Grey Field Slug Are Unstable Under Abnormally High Soil Moisture Conditions.

in arable fields display spatio-temporally stable slug patches that have been well documented under typical soil moisture conditions. The effect of abnormally high soil moisture on slug patch stability, however, is unknown. In this study, stepped gradient choice tests comparing soil moisture levels of 50-125% soil capacity showed slug preferences for levels in a range near to 125%.

A predictive model and a field study on heterogeneous slug distribution in arable fields arising from density dependent movement.

Factors and processes determining heterogeneous ('patchy') population distributions in natural environments have long been a major focus in ecology. Existing theoretical approaches proved to be successful in explaining vegetation patterns. In the case of animal populations, existing theories are at most conceptual: they may suggest a qualitative explanation but largely fail to explain patchiness quantitatively.

Lower pollen nutritional quality delays nest building and egg laying in micro-colonies leading to reduced biomass gain.

The performance of micro-colonies fed five diets differing in pollen species composition and level of nine essential amino acids (EAA; leucine, lysine, valine, arginine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, methionine) was assessed for 37 days by recording total biomass gain, nest building initiation, brood production (eggs, small and large larvae, pupae, drones), nectar, and pollen collection. Stronger colony performance was linked to higher amino acid levels but no consistent differences in biomass gain were recorded between mono- and poly-species diets. Poorest performance occurred in micro-colonies offered pure oilseed rape (OSR) pollen which contained the lowest EAA levels.

Stability of Patches of Higher Population Density within the Heterogenous Distribution of the Gray Field Slug in Arable Fields in the UK.

Exploitation of heterogenous distributions of , in arable fields by targeting molluscicide applications toward areas with higher slug densities, relies on these patches displaying sufficient spatio-temporal stability. Regular sampling of slug activity/distribution was undertaken using 1 ha rectangular grids of 100 refuge traps established in 22 commercial arable field crops. Activity varied significantly between the three years of the study, and the degree of aggregation (Taylor's Power Law) was higher in fields with higher mean trap catches.

Movement patterns of the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) in an arable field.

We report the results of an experiment on radio-tracking of individual grey field slugs in an arable field and associated data modelling designed to investigate the effect of slug population density in their movement. Slugs were collected in a commercial winter wheat field in which a 5x6 trapping grid had been established with 2m distance between traps. The slugs were taken to the laboratory, radio-tagged using a recently developed procedure, and following a recovery period released into the same field.

Locomotor behaviour promotes stability of the patchy distribution of slugs in arable fields: Tracking the movement of individual Deroceras reticulatum.

Background: The distribution of the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum Müller) in arable fields is characterised by patches containing higher slug densities dispersed within areas of lower densities. Behavioural responses that lead to the spatial/temporal stability of these patches are poorly understood, thus this study investigated behavioural mechanisms underpinning slug distribution using a new method for long-term tracking of individual slug movement in the field.

Results: A technique for implanting radio frequency identification (RFID) tags (each with a unique identification code) beneath the body wall of slugs was developed.

Towards the Development of a More Accurate Monitoring Procedure for Invertebrate Populations, in the Presence of an Unknown Spatial Pattern of Population Distribution in the Field.

Studies addressing many ecological problems require accurate evaluation of the total population size. In this paper, we revisit a sampling procedure used for the evaluation of the abundance of an invertebrate population from assessment data collected on a spatial grid of sampling locations. We first discuss how insufficient information about the spatial population density obtained on a coarse sampling grid may affect the accuracy of an evaluation of total population size.

A new adaptive time step method for unsteady flow simulations in a human lung.

The innovation presented is a method for adaptive time-stepping that allows clustering of time steps in portions of the cycle for which flow variables are rapidly changing, based on the concept of using a uniform step in a relevant dependent variable rather than a uniform step in the independent variable time. A user-defined function was developed to adapt the magnitude of the time step (adaptive time step) to a defined rate of change in inlet velocity. Quantitative comparison indicates that the new adaptive time stepping method significantly improves accuracy for simulations using an equivalent number of time steps per cycle.

Design of a numerical model of lung by means of a special boundary condition in the truncated branches.

Background: The need for a better understanding of pulmonary diseases has led to increased interest in the development of realistic computational models of the human lung.

Methods: To minimize computational cost, a reduced geometry model is used for a model lung airway geometry up to generation 16. Truncated airway branches require physiologically realistic boundary conditions to accurately represent the effect of the removed airway sections.

Neonicotinoids and bumblebees (Bombus terrestris): effects on nectar consumption in individual workers.

Background: The objective of this study was to quantify whether the presence of three different neonicotinoid insecticides (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam or clothianidin) in sucrose solution results in antifeedant effects in individual worker bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), and, if so, whether this effect is reversible if bees are subsequently offered untreated feed.

Results: Bees exposed to imidacloprid displayed a significant dose-dependent reduction in consumption at 10 and 100 µg L(-1), which was reversed when untreated feed was offered. No consistent avoidance/antifeedant response to nectar substitute with thiamethoxam was detected at the more field-realistic dose rates of 1 and 10 µg L(-1), and exposure to the very high 100 µg L(-1) dose rate was followed by 100% mortality of experimental insects.

Identification of the aggregation pheromone of the melon thrips, Thrips palmi.

The objective of this study was to identify the aggregation pheromone of the melon thrips Thrips palmi, a major pest of vegetable and ornamental plants around the world. The species causes damage both through feeding activities and as a vector of tospoviruses, and is a threat to world trade and European horticulture. Improved methods of detecting and controlling this species are needed and the identification of an aggregation pheromone will contribute to this requirement.

"We communicated that way for a reason": language practices and language ideologies among hearing adults whose parents are deaf.

Families with deaf parents and hearing children are often bilingual and bimodal, with both a spoken language and a signed one in regular use among family members. When interviewed, 13 American hearing adults with deaf parents reported widely varying language practices, sign language abilities, and social affiliations with Deaf and Hearing communities. Despite this variation, the interviewees' moral judgments of their own and others' communicative behavior suggest that these adults share a language ideology concerning the obligation of all family members to expend effort to overcome potential communication barriers.

Prey consumption rates and compatibility with pesticides of four predatory mites from the family Phytoseiidae attacking Thrips palmi Karny (Thysanoptera: Thripidae).

Background: Predatory mites (Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, Typhlodromips montdorensis Schicha, Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) and Iphiseius degenerans Berlese) were investigated for their potential to act as control agents for Thrips palmi Karny. Prey consumption rates and compatibility with pesticides were assessed.

Results: Second-instar larvae were the preferred life stage.

Interactions between multiple recruitment drivers: post-settlement predation mortality and flow-mediated recruitment.

Background: Dispersal is a primary driver in shaping the future distribution of species in both terrestrial and marine systems. Physical transport by advection can regulate the distance travelled and rate of propagule supply to a habitat but post-settlement processes such as predation can decouple supply from recruitment. The effect of flow-mediated recruitment and predation on the recruitment success of an intertidal species, the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica was evaluated in two-replicated field experiments.

Efficient, physiologically realistic lung airflow simulations.

One of the key challenges for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of human lung airflow is the sheer size and complexity of the complete, multiscale geometry of the bronchopulmonary tree. Since 3-D CFD simulations of the full airway tree are currently intractable, researchers have proposed reduced geometry models in which multiple airway paths are truncated downstream of the first few generations. This paper investigates a recently proposed method for closing the CFD model by application of physiologically correct boundary conditions at truncated outlets.

Computational fluid dynamics simulations of particle deposition in large-scale, multigenerational lung models.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has emerged as a useful tool for the prediction of airflow and particle transport within the human lung airway. Several published studies have demonstrated the use of Eulerian finite-volume CFD simulations coupled with Lagrangian particle tracking methods to determine local and regional particle deposition rates in small subsections of the bronchopulmonary tree. However, the simulation of particle transport and deposition in large-scale models encompassing more than a few generations is less common, due in part to the sheer size and complexity of the human lung airway.

DigitalLung: application of high-performance computing to biological system simulation.

The DigitalLung project represents an attempt to develop a multi-scale capability for simulating human respiration with application to predicting the effects of inhaled particulate matter. To accomplish this objective, DigitalLung integrates macroscale models of integrative human physiology, meso-to-microscale computational fluid dynamics simulations of a breathing human lung, meso-to-nanoscale particle transport and deposition models, and micro-to-nanoscale physical and chemical characterizations of particulate and their mass transfer through the mucosal layer to the epithelium. This chapter describes preliminary results and areas of ongoing research.

Recent advances in computational fluid dynamics relevant to the modelling of pesticide flow on leaf surfaces.

Increasing societal and governmental concern about the worldwide use of chemical pesticides is now providing strong drivers towards maximising the efficiency of pesticide utilisation and the development of alternative control techniques. There is growing recognition that the ultimate goal of achieving efficient and sustainable pesticide usage will require greater understanding of the fluid mechanical mechanisms governing the delivery to, and spreading of, pesticide droplets on target surfaces such as leaves. This has led to increasing use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as an important component of efficient process design with regard to pesticide delivery to the leaf surface.

Effects of the nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita and of venom from the endoparasitic wasp Pimpla hypochondriaca on survival and food consumption of the pest slug Deroceras reticulatum; implications for novel biocontrol strategies.

Background: Controlling pests through disruption of biochemical pathways by physiologically active compounds/factors from animals and plants represents an expanding field of research. The authors investigated whether such factors in venom from the wasp Pimpla hypochondriaca (Retzius) can affect the viability and food consumption of the slug Deroceras reticulatum (Müller), and whether they can improve the efficacy of nematode-induced slug mortality.

Results: Exposure of slugs to 4 mL of water containing 500, 1000 and 5000 Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita (Schneider) resulted in significant increases in mortality (with hazard ratios of 3.

Separation of substituted fullerenes using non-aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A simple non-aqueous reversed-phase separation HPLC-MS method has been developed to allow for the rapid screening and separation of fullerenes and substituted fullerenes. This procedure provides confirmation that the proposed substitution methodology for the fullerene is not only successful but that multiple substitution products are obtained. The methodology is being expanded to analyze other substituted fullerene product mixtures.

Synthesis, spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations for a series of push-pull [14]-pyridoannulenes.

Three new isomeric dipyridoannulenes were synthesized and characterized. These molecules possess differing conjugation pathways between the substituent alkoxy donating groups and the pyridyl acceptor groups. Optical absorption and emission properties of the dipyridoannulenes and their corresponding acyclic precursors were measured and correlated to structural differences and used to evaluate conjugation effectiveness and charge-transfer pathways.

Synthesis of a new ligand for transition metal-fullerene supramolecular systems.

A new ligand has been designed that provides a relatively simple framework to build supramolecular systems containing both fullerene and transition-metal moieties. The modular framework of the ligand allows for the easy design of more complex systems. Analysis of absorption and emission spectra suggests significant photoinduced charge transfer between the two moieties.

Comparing the impact of conventional pesticide and use of a transgenic pest-resistant crop on the beneficial carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius.

The potential impact of a chemical pesticide control method has been compared with that of transgenic plants expressing a protease inhibitor conferring insect resistance by utilising a tritrophic system comprising the crop plant Brassica napus (L.) (Oilseed rape), the pest mollusc Deroceras reticulatum (Müller) and the predatory carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger). Cypermethrin, as the most widely used pesticide in UK oilseed rape (OSR) cultivation, was selected as the conventional treatment.

The efficacy of two entomopathogenic biocontrol agents against adult Thrips palmi (Thysanoptera:Thripidae).

The efficacy of the two entomopathogenic biocontrol agents, Steinernema feltiae (Filipjev) and Lecanicillium muscarium (Petch), against juvenile Thrips palmi Karny in the laboratory situation is well documented. This study investigated the extrapolation of this knowledge to the control of adult stages. S.

Pathogenicity of the entomopathogenic fungus, Lecanicillium muscarium, against the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci under laboratory and glasshouse conditions.

The potential for using the entomopathogenic fungus Lecanicillium muscarium to control the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci has been established in the laboratory by other studies. Laboratory studies however frequently overestimate the level of control achieved by biological control agents in the glasshouse. Before full-scale commercial or field development is considered, glasshouse trials are required to confirm laboratory results.