Effects of Rhinoncomimus latipes on the growth and reproduction of Persicaria perfoliata,an invasive plant in North America

Native to Asia, mile-a-minute Persicaria perfoliata, is an invasive weed in North America, and the weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes is a host-specific insect agent which occurs widely in China. We conducted a common garden experiment to compare P. perfoliata plant responses of native and invasive populations to herbivory by the weevils from different origins. We found weevils from Hunan, Hubei and Heilongjiang Provinces had strong, moderate and weak ability to suppress host plant, respectively. Weevils from Hunan and Hubei Provinces had stronger impact on the growth of both native and invasive plant populations than the weevil from Heilongjiang Province. The losses in seed output of invasive plants were also significantly greater than natives in the weevil treatments. Our results suggested that the weevil population from Hunan Province may be the most suitable for the control of mile-a-minute, while the population from Heilongjiang Province may be the least suitable due to climate matching.     

Review and analysis of the surveys for natural enemies of Mimosa pigra: What does it tell us about surveys for broadly distributed hosts?

Mimosa pigra L. (Mimosaceae), a serious weed in Australia and Asia, has been the target of a biological control project for 25 years. This woody legume occurs naturally in all tropical American countries from Mexico to Argentina and on many Caribbean islands. In this paper, we analysed the results of surveys for natural enemies of M. pigra conducted in seven countries by several different collectors and which revealed 420 species of insects and five of fungi. We assessed the survey effort relative to the natural distribution of the host-plant to show that large areas of the natural distribution were not covered. We examined the known distribution of the natural enemies to show that most natural enemies occur over the majority of the range of the host, although the Isthmus of Panama is a barrier to many species. This indicates that few potential agents were missed. We show species accumulation curves for three sites to estimate the number of visits required to find most species at a site. Although the species accumulation curves continued to rise, even after 28 collections and 101 insects found at one site, the species utilised for biological control were found relatively early. We expect that these general conclusions (that those insects with potential for biological control are widely distributed and relatively quickly discovered) are applicable to biological control surveys of any target that occurs continuously over a wide geographic range, but possibly not to targets that occupy disjunct distributions.     

Evidence for the influence of conspecific chemical cues on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aphthona nigriscutis</Emphasis> (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) behaviour and distribution

Although the distribution of biological control agents may have a significant effect upon their impacts, the mechanisms regulating these distributions are often unknown. Such is the case with Aphthona nigriscutis, a classical biological control agent of leafy spurge in North America. These beetles assume aggregated distributions at some sites but disperse rapidly at others. The potential influence of plant and insect-factors upon aggregation and dispersal was investigated to try to explain these observations. Male beetles produce a putative aggregation pheromone. Responses of conspecifics to male-associated cues are greater when beetles are feeding on host plants. Densities of beetle groups greatly impact their attractiveness. Males are more sensitive to dispersal cues and females are more sensitive to congregation cues.     

麦田3种杂草种子的破眠(简报)

研究麦田常见的3种杂草破眠的结果表明,4-35℃的变温处理、O．3％赤霉素浸泡2h、3．6％盐酸浸泡30min（发芽率达到58．0％）均可打破播娘蒿种子的休眠;9、8％硫酸处理10min、6．6％硝酸处理35min、30％双氧水处理40min、3．6％盐酸处理30min（发芽率达到60．0％）也均可打破野燕麦种子的休眠;麦仁珠种子则以浓盐酸处理5min的破除休眠效果最好,发芽率达到72、0％。     

Status, invasiveness and environmental threats of three tropical American invasive weeds (Parthenium hysterophorus L., Ageratum conyzoides L., Lantana camara L.) in India

Invasive weeds have threatened the integrity of ecosystems throughout the world. They affect not only the species diversity of native areas but also their biological integrity. In India, a number of invasive exotic weeds have been reported but some viz. Parthenium hysterophorus, Lantana camara and Ageratum conyzoides, especially those from tropical America are troublesome and have caused adverse ecological, economic and social impact. These weeds can be seen growing in different landscapes but are luxuriantly localized in unattended forests and cultivated areas. Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae, commonly known as congress grass) is perhaps the most troublesome and noxious weed of urban and rural India. Besides rapidly colonizing areas replacing the native vegetation, it is also known to cause a number of human health problems such as skin allergy, rhinitis and irritation to eyes of the residents in the vicinity. Likewise, it causes fodder scarcity in addition to being unpalatable and toxic to livestock. Lantana camara (Verbenaceae), another serious tropical American pest, has encroached upon large areas of land, especially the forests where it has virtually replaced the forest floor vegetation and reduced tree growth. Also because of its bushy and spreading type of growth it obstructs forest operations. The third weed, Ageratum conyzoides (Asteraceae, Billy goat weed) has invaded agricultural fields. It interferes with crops and causes yield reductions of major staple crops of India. When it invades rangeland areas, it out competes native grasses causing scarcity of fodder. These weeds have similar growth strategies such as fast growth rates, short life-cycles, greater reproductive potential, high competitive abilities and allelopathy that make them successful invaders of native habitats. Mechanical, chemical, biological and cultural control tactics have failed individually, though integrated approaches combining all these approaches along with community participation and proper land management have been relatively successful. This paper presents various aspects of biology, ecology, hazards and control measures of these weeds.     

Wild gathered food plants in the European mediterranean: A comparative analysis

The Mediterranean basin has a long and multifaceted cultural history and harbors a high biodiversity. Epidemiological studies have drawn attention to certain traditional Mediterranean diets. However, wild gathered food species, which are an important, but fast disappearing element of these diets, so far have been largely neglected in scientific studies. In this study we compare ethnobotanical data obtained from field studies conducted in Southern Italy, Southern Spain, mainland Greece, and Crete resulting in the identification of a core group of 18 culinary used wild gathered plant species. This group comprises species likePapaver rhoeas L.,Sonchus asper L.,S. oleraceus L., andSilene vulgaris L. We argue that the culinary use of wild gathered weedy greens evolved together with the neolithization process, since this offered the necessary ecological niches for them to thrive, thereby enriching and securing the diets of European agriculturalists. Especially wild gathered Asteraceae species seem to form a sort of proto-nutraceutical, which accounts for a significant input of biologically active compounds in the diet.     

Biological and genetic characterisation of Phoma macrostoma isolates with bioherbicidal activity

The fungus Phoma macrostoma Mont. isolate 94-44B was registered as a bioherbicide for control of broadleaved weeds in Canada and the USA in 2011 and 2012, respectively. To obtain the registrations, the fungus had to be characterised both biologically and genetically. The objectives of this study were to demonstrate that bioherbicidal activity was associated with specific genetic markers and to determine whether bioherbicidal activity was a general trait of the species or only selected isolates. A collection of 64 isolates of P. macrostoma was established. A greenhouse bioassay and bioherbicidal-specific primers were used to determine bioherbicidal activity of all isolates. Only isolates originating from Canada thistle demonstrated the ability to reduce dandelion seedlings and display the 853 bp amplicon for the bioherbicidal-specific primer. Bioherbicidal isolates were consistently differentiated from all other isolates with two main genotypic groupings (I and II) arising from internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) sequence analyses. Using AFLP, two biotypes of bioherbicidal isolates were also differentiated by the presence or absence of an AFLP marker at a single polymorphic locus. The genetic divergence among the bioherbicidal and nonbioherbicidal isolates of P. macrostoma was only 2.21% which was lower than that reported for other related Phoma sp. Other than the bioherbicidal trait, there was no apparent affiliation of the genetics with known varietal types, host or geographic origin. ITS sequence analysis and AFLP fingerprinting may be used as tools to detect bioherbicidal isolates of P. macrostoma.     

祁连山天然气水合物赋存区钻孔细菌多样性

分析了青海省祁连山冻土区天然气水合物赋存区DK-6钻孔的4个样品,对岩心样品进行处理提取微生物总基因组,采用PCR构建了细菌16S rDNA基因文库,4个文库包括44个OTU,其中有厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)、变形杆菌门(Proteobacteria)(包括α-、β-和y-变形杆菌亚群)、放线菌纲(Actinobacteria)和异常球菌-栖热菌门(Deinococcus-Thermus)5类,煤、泥岩、粉砂岩等不同岩性的微生物群落之间显示出较大的组成差异,优势菌不同.细菌菌群多样性随采集点地质环境不同而有较明显的变化,天然气水合物含量、水含量、有机质含量等环境因素对冻土区天然气水合物赋存区中细菌菌群有一定的影响.4个样品中存在的微生物大部分可以代谢有机烃类,在天然气水合物环境的特殊条件下,外界环境因素制约了微生物的种类.