0000000000459129
AUTHOR
P. Lo Bue
showing 5 related works from this author
Environmental Noise and Nonlinear Relaxation in Biological Systems
2012
We analyse the effects of environmental noise in three different biological systems: (i) mating behaviour of individuals of 'Nezara viridula' (L.) (Heteroptera Pentatomidae); (ii) polymer translocation in crowded solution; (iii) an ecosystem described by a Verhulst model with a multiplicative Lèvy noise. Specifically, we report on experiments on the behavioural response of 'N. viridula' individuals to sub-threshold deterministic signals in the presence of noise. We analyse the insect response by directionality tests performed on a group of male individuals at different noise intensities. The percentage of insects which react to the sub-threshold signal shows a non-monotonic behavior, charac…
Lures for red palm weevil trapping systems: aggregation pheromone and synthetic kairomone
2015
[EN] BACKGROUNDThe optimisation of the lure is essential for the implementation of trapping systems to control insect pests. In this work, the response of the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier, to increasing emission rates of its aggregation pheromone (ferrugineol) and the efficacy of a convenient synthetic kairomone based on fermentation odours (ethyl acetate and ethanol) have been evaluated in different years and locations along the Mediterranean basin. RESULTSIn general, although capture data and emission had noticeable variability among locations, significantly fewer RPW were captured in pyramidal Picusan (R) traps with the lowest ferrugineol emission rates tested…
Use of biorational insecticides for the control of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) infestations on open field tomato
2012
Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), the tomato leaf miner, is one of the most devastating pests affecting tomato crops in Italy. Management of T. absoluta was assessed in open-field tests using three biorational insecticides, Azadirachtin, Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, and Beauveria bassiana, and a combination of three synthetic insecticides, Emamectin, Indoxacarb and Metaflumizone, as a control treatment. Our results showed that only the combination of Azadirachtin – B. thuringiensis was able to reduce the impact of tomato leaf miner on the fruit’s marketable production similarly to the control treatment. This finding suggests that biorational insecticides are a goo…
Evidence of stochastic resonance in the mating behavior of Nezara viridula (L.)
2008
We investigate the role of the noise in the mating behavior between individuals of Nezara viridula (L.), by analyzing the temporal and spectral features of the non-pulsed type female calling song emitted by single individuals. We have measured the threshold level for the signal detection, by performing experiments with the calling signal at different intensities and analyzing the insect response by directionality tests performed on a group of male individuals. By using a sub-threshold signal and an acoustic Gaussian noise source, we have investigated the insect response for different levels of noise, finding behavioral activation for suitable noise intensities. In particular, the percentage…
Noise effects in two different biological systems
2009
We investigate the role of the colored noise in two biological systems: (i) adults of Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), and (ii) polymer translocation. In the first system we analyze, by directionality tests, the response of N. viridula individuals to subthreshold signals plus noise in their mating behaviour. The percentage of insects that react to the subthreshold signal shows a nonmonotonic behaviour, characterized by the presence of a maximum, as a function of the noise intensity. This is the signature of the non-dynamical stochastic resonance phenomenon. By using a “soft” threshold model we find that the maximum of the input-output cross correlation occurs in the same ra…