Beyond COP28: Brazil must act to tackle the global climate and biodiversity crisis.

Extreme weather has made 2023 virtually certain to be the warmest year on record, signaling unprecedented climate and biodiversity crises. Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, with two hotspots and complex social and economic layers, has experienced escalating environmental degradation over the past years. Alarming rates of native vegetation loss, wildfires, severe and prolonged droughts, and heatwaves have adversely impacted several Brazilian ecosystems and societies.

Essential Oil: A Plant Resistance Biostimulant and a Sustainable Alternative for Controlling Phytopathogens and Insect Pests.

With the growing demand for sustainable and safe agricultural practices, plant compounds emerge as a solution for biological activities. Here, we evaluated the potential of using essential oil to induce plant resistance and to control phytopathogens () and insect pests (). We conducted a chromatographic analysis to unveil the essential oil components.

Predation on sentinel prey increases with increasing latitude in -dominated agroecosystems.

In natural ecosystems, arthropod predation on herbivore prey is higher at lower latitudes, mirroring the latitudinal diversity gradient observed across many taxa. This pattern has not been systematically examined in human-dominated ecosystems, where frequent disturbances can shift the identity and abundance of local predators, altering predation rates from those observed in natural ecosystems. We investigated how latitude, biogeographical, and local ecological factors influenced arthropod predation in -dominated agroecosystems in 55 plots spread among 5 sites in the United States and 4 sites in Brazil, spanning at least 15° latitude in each country.

Diet breadth of the aphid predator Burmeister (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).

The performance (development and reproduction) of generalist predators can vary greatly among the prey species that they use, and these differences can influence the ability of predatory insects to suppress pest populations. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of larvae of the green lacewing (Burmeister, 1839) by offering 16 species of aphids and by assessing the effects of each species on the survival, larval development time, prey consumption, pupal mass and egg load of adult females taking aphid phylogeny into account. larvae preyed on individuals from all 16 aphid species, but complete development, adult emergence and egg load production were achieved only in seven species.

Companion and Smart Plants: Scientific Background to Promote Conservation Biological Control.

To attain sustainable agricultural crop protection, tools such as host plant resistance, enhanced ecosystem services (i.e. conserving natural enemies) and the deployment of companion plants should be promoted in pest management programmes.

Toxicity of Varronia curassavica Jacq. Essential Oil to Two Arthropod Pests and Their Natural Enemy.

This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of the Varronia curassavica Jacq. essential oil to two cosmopolitan and polyphagous pest species, the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) and the green aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer). Additionally, we tested the essential oil toxicity to a generalist predatory insect, the green lacewing Ceraeochrysa cubana Hagen.

Effects of lime sulfur on Neoseiulus californicus and Phytoseiulus macropilis, two naturally occurring enemies of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae.

Background: The application of lime sulfur is a common practice used to control arthropod pests in organic production of fruits. However, the unintended effects of this insecticide preparation on non-targeted organisms have not received the adequate attention. Here, we evaluated the lime sulfur toxicity on the phytophagous mites Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) and on two predatory mite species [i.

Supplementary food for Neoseiulus californicus boosts biological control of Tetranychus urticae on strawberry.

Background: A wide range of supplementary food resources can be offered to generalist predatory mites to improve their survival and reproduction and enhance their persistence in the environment. We investigated the relative suitability of different pollen types for the survival and reproduction of Neoseiulus californicus and its life history on a mixed diet of pollen and prey. We also evaluated the population dynamics of Tetranychus urticae in the presence of N.

Reciprocal intraguild predation and predator coexistence.

Intraguild predation is a mix of competition and predation and occurs when one species feeds on another species that uses similar resources. Theory predicts that intraguild predation hampers coexistence of species involved, but it is common in nature. It has been suggested that increasing habitat complexity and the presence of alternative food may promote coexistence.

Ricoseius loxocheles (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is not a predator of false spider mite on coffee crops: What does it eat?

Ricoseius loxocheles (De Leon) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is often found in coffee crops and is known to feed on coffee leaf rust, Hemileia vastatrix Berkeley and Broome (Uredinales). As the occurrence of coffee leaf rust is limited primarily to the rainy season, the mite may use other food sources to survive during the periods of low pathogen prevalence. It is well known that phytoseiid mites can survive on a variety of food sources, such as herbivorous mites, fungi and pollen.

Breaking and entering: predators invade the shelter of their prey and gain protection.

Many herbivorous arthropods construct shelters on their host plant that offer protection against natural enemies. This has resulted in selection on natural enemies to enter these shelters, where they can feed on prey that are inaccessible for competing predators and parasitoids. The spider mite Tetranychus evansi produces a shelter consisting of a dense web that is impenetrable for most predators; the only known natural enemy that can penetrate the web and can forage efficiently on this pest is Phytoseiulus longipes.

Susceptibility and physiological responses of Jatropha curcas accessions to broad mite infestation.

The broad mite Polyphagotarsonemus latus is a key pest of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.). The purpose of this study was to identify physic nut accessions that are less susceptible to P.

Performance of Amblyseius herbicolus on broad mites and on castor bean and sunnhemp pollen.

Amblyseius herbicolus (Banks) is found associated with broad mites Polyphagotarsonemus latus in crops such as chili pepper in Brazil. The species has a potential for controlling P. latus, but little is known about its development and reproduction on this pest as well as on other food sources.

Lime sulfur toxicity to broad mite, to its host plants and to natural enemies.

Background: An acaricidal effect of lime sulfur has not been demonstrated for Polyphagotarsonemus latus. However, lime sulfur can cause toxicity to natural enemies and to host plants. In this study, the toxicity of different concentrations of lime sulfur to P.

Alternative control of Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard (Acari: Tetranychidae) on tomato plants grown in greenhouses.

Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard is an important pest of solanaceous plants, including tomatoes. This mite is characterized by a high reproductive rate, which leads to high population growth in a short period of time causing important economic damage. Control of T.

[Does vegetational diversification reduce coffee leaf miner Leucoptera coffeella (Guérin-Mèneville) (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae) attack?].

The effects of increasing plant diversity on the population of the coffee leaf-miner Leucoptera coffeella (Guérin-Mèneville) were investigated in two organic coffee production systems. One system consisted of coffee intercropped with banana trees (shaded system) and the other one of coffee intercropped with pigeon pea (unshaded system). The increase in plant diversity on both systems was achieved via introduction of green manures such a perennial pea nut, sunn hemp and Brazilian lucerne.

Response of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus macropilis (Banks) to volatiles produced by strawberry plants in response to attack by Tetranychid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae: Tetranychidae).

The attack of phytophagous mites may induce plants to produce volatiles, which in turn may attract predators. The occurrence of multiple phytophagous infestations on plants may influence predator response. In this paper, we investigated whether the attraction of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus macropilis (Banks) to phytophagous-infested plants would change with the simultaneous presence of two tetranichid mites Oligonychus ilicis (McGregor) and Tetranychus urticae Koch.

[Do Capsicum spp. trichomes influence the biological aspects of the broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks (Acari: Tarsonemidae)?].

Plant morphology traits can affect the feeding preference, oviposition choice and the vulnerability of herbivores to natural enemies. At long term, these plant variations may influence herbivore population dynamics due to the interference on their development, survival and reproduction. In this paper, the development of the broad mite Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) was evaluated on five species of Capsicum with different density of trichomes.

Evaluation of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus macropilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a biological control agent of the two-spotted spider mite on strawberry plants under greenhouse conditions.

The predatory mite Phytoseiulus macropilis is a potential biological control agent of the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM) Tetranychus urticae on strawberry plants. Its ability to control TSSM was recently assessed under laboratory conditions, but its ability to locate and control TSSM under greenhouse conditions has not been tested so far. We evaluated whether P.

Suitability of leguminous cover crop pollens as food source for the green lacewing Chrysoperla externa (Hagen) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).

Diversification of crops with species that provide suitable pollen for predators may reduce pest population on crops by enhancing predator effectiveness. In this paper we evaluated the suitability of leguminous cover crop pollens to the predatory green lacewing Chrysoperla externa (Hagen). The predator is commonly found in coffee agroecosystems and the plant species tested were pigeon pea and sunn hemp, which are used in organic coffee systems.

[Spatial distribution of phytophagous mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) on strawberry plants].

Many phytophagous mites can attack strawberry plants, Fragaria x ananassa, among them the southern red mite, Oligonychus ilicis McGregor, and the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch. They are found together feeding on the same plant on the upper and underside of the leaves, respectively. Here we studied the choice for feeding sites of O.