The abundance of Coleoptera, Diptera and Collembola on different species of fungi was investigated in relation to the size and abundance of fungal resources at different spatial scales; i.e., the size of the fungal fruiting body, the quality of resource in terms of number of conspecific sporophores growing within a radius of 50 cm, crowding of the clumps of fruiting bodies, and the quality of resource within a plot (20 m × 30 m). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the influential spatial scale varied among the arthropod orders. The amount of resource at the scale of a clump made a significant contribution to the abundance of Coleoptera, and the fruiting body size significantly affected the abundance of Diptera on each fungal species. Collembolan abundance was significantly affected by the crowding of the clumps of fruiting bodies and the number of fruiting bodies per plot. These results suggest that the spatial distribution of fungal fruiting bodies may determine whether they are selected by arthropods visited.
The impact of transgenic Bt-maize, expressing the Cry1Ab protein, on aphids, leafhoppers, cutworms and wireworms was evaluated at the farm scale by comparing their abundance on Bt-plots and those sown with the isogenic variety over three consecutive growing seasons. The impact of Bt-maize was different on each of the three-herbivore groups. There were significantly more aphids on the Bt-maize but in terms of aphid species, the difference was only statistically significant for Sitobion avenae and not for the other three most abundant species (Metopolophium dirhodum, Rhopalosiphum padi and Macrosiphum euphorbiae). The analysis of aphid age structure showed consistently more individuals on Bt-plots; differences were significant for alates, apterous adults and young nymphs of R. padi, apterous adults and apterous fourth instar nymphs of S. avenae, alates, apterous adults and apterous fourth instar nymphs of M. dirhodum. Leafhoppers (Zyginidia scutellaris), particularly mature nymphs, were also more abundant on the Bt-maize. In spite of this there was no difference in leafhopper damage to Bt and non Bt-maize. The reasons for this are unclear but may be due to changes in Bt-maize that favoured aphids and leafhoppers. Differences in aphid and leafhopper densities were not high enough to affect yield. However, they may have affected the availability of prey for polyphagous predators such as Orius sp. The Bt-maize did not affect the incidence of cutworms (Agrotis segetum) or wireworms (Agriotes lineatus). These results indicate that Bt-maize does not have a negative impact on the non-target maize biocenosis at the farm scale.
The cyber sphere forms a fifth domain of activities were interactions between state and non-state actors could happen. It starts to play an important role within the conflicts and hostilities. Especially in these situations, international society does not have a unified view on the question how to deal with the activities in cyberspace. We could see the different forms of abuse of cyberspace also within the crisis in Ukraine. This crisis is a good example of the complexity of the legal approach and the (non)capability of the legal understanding of cyber operations and attacks. The goal of this article is to highlight this complexity and to determine the status of cyber incidents realized in the Ukraine from the perspective of international law., Jozef Valuch, Ondrej Hamuľák., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Five species of acanthocephalans of the family Centrorhynchidae are recorded from birds in Bulgaria: Centrorhynchus amphihius Das, 1950 from Buteo buteo (L.) (new host record), C. glohocaudatus (Zeder. 1800) Luhe, 1911 from Falco tin-nunculus L. and F. vespertinus L, (new host record), Sphaerimstris picae (Rudolphi, 1819) Golvan, 1960 from Pica pica (L.) and Lanius excuhitor L. (new host record), S. lancea (Westrumb, 1821) Golvan, 1960 from Vanellus vanellus (L.), and S. turili (Yamaguti, 1939) Golvan, 1960 from Turdus merula L„ Cinclus cinclus (L.) (new host record) and Stumus vulgaris L. (new host record). New geographical record for Europe is this of C. amphihius, and for Bulgaria - this of S. lurdi. The species are described and figured on the basis of Bulgarian specimens. Sphaerimstris picae is recognized as a valid species and S. teres is considered its synonym. A male of S. picae with a copulatory cap is reported.
A new species of Acanthochondria Oakley, 1927 (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida, Chondracanthidae), parasitic on Serranus auriga (Cuvier) from the Argentinean coastal zone, is described and illustrated. The new species differs from its congeners by the relative length of the neck and the protopod of leg 2. This is the second record of this genus for the South-eastern Atlantic and the first one from a serranid host.
The following acanthocolpid species are reported from New Caledonia. Acaenodera nautili sp. n. from Conger cinereus Rüppel differs from other Acaenodera species in details of the body-spination, the sucker-ratio and the bipartite seminal vesicle; Stephanostomum murielae sp. n. from Carangoides hedlandensis (Whitley) differs from most species of Stephanostomum in the average of 36 circum-oral spines, the circum-oral spine rows with a ventral hiatus and the anterior extent of the vitellarium being >10% of the hindbody length from ventral sucker. The species is distinguished from the three other species with these characters in a detailed review. The other species reported are: Stephanostomum aaravi Bray et Cribb, 2003 from Lethrinus miniatus and L. rubrioperculatus; Stephanostomum ditrematis (Yamaguti, 1939) from Gnathanodon speciosus; Stephanostomum japonocasum Durio et Manter, 1969 from Cephalopholis urodeta, Epinephelus areolatus, E. chlorostigma, E. maculatus, E. retouti, Lethrinus miniatus and Variola louti; Stephanostomum uku Yamaguti, 1970 and Pleorchis uku Yamaguti, 1970 from Aprion virescens.
Aphidius ervi Haliday is a parasitoid of natural populations of both Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) on alfalfa and Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) on wheat in Chile. In this study the performance of the aphid parasitoid on both host species was evaluated. Regardless of origin, both females and males of A. ervi were significantly smaller when reared on S. avenae than on A. pisum. Males and females of A. ervi reared on S. avenae on wheat also took significantly longer to develop than when reared on A. pisum. There was no significant difference in the sex ratio of the parasitoid when reared on these two host aphids. Survival of parasitoids from the A. pisum - alfalfa system was significantly lower when reared on S. avenae relative to those reared on A. pisum, but no significant difference in survival on both hosts was detected in parasitoids from the S. avenae - wheat system. Behaviour of parasitoid females during oviposition, such as frequency of encounters, number of attacks and stabbings of host aphids, were significantly higher in the A. pisum - A. ervi interaction than in the S. avenae - A. ervi interaction, regardless of the origin of the parasitoid. Aphid defensive reactions such as kicking or production of cornicle secretion, were significantly higher in the A. pisum - A. ervi than the S. avenae - A. ervi interaction. The results are discussed in relation to the effect of host quality and host aphid body size on parasitoid development.