Search results for "plum"
showing 10 items of 344 documents
Gray plumage color is more cryptic than brown in snowy landscapes in a resident color polymorphic bird
2020
Abstract Camouflage may promote fitness of given phenotypes in different environments. The tawny owl (Strix aluco) is a color polymorphic species with a gray and brown morph resident in the Western Palearctic. A strong selection pressure against the brown morph during snowy and cold winters has been documented earlier, but the selection mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we hypothesize that selection favors the gray morph because it is better camouflaged against predators and mobbers in snowy conditions compared to the brown one. We conducted an online citizen science experiment where volunteers were asked to locate a gray or a brown tawny owl specimen from pictures taken in snowy and snow…
Can Mating Disruption Be a Possible Route to Control Plum Fruit Moth in Mediterranean Environments?
2020
Simple Summary Grapholita funebrana is a main pest of plum throughout the Palearctic region. The management of this pest is generally carried out with chemical insecticides. In this study we investigated the suitability of the mating disruption as alternative method of control of this pest. Experiments were carried out in organic plum orchards during 2012 and 2014. Trap catches and fruit sampling were carried out to estimate the efficacy of this technique in reducing males catch and fruit infestation. The results indicated that the males caught in traps placed in the treatment plots was always significantly lower than untreated plots. The chemical analysis of the pheromone emission from the…
Do Grapholita funebrana Infestation Rely on Specific Plum Fruit Features?
2019
The effective control of the plum fruit moth, Grapholita funebrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) still represents a difficult challenge for organic plum farming. Little information is available on the susceptibility of plum cultivars to this moth pest. We investigated the roles of several fruit parameters (i.e., shape, volume, hardness, fruit colour, and physiochemical properties) on the susceptibility of four different plum cultivars (Angeleno, Friar, President and Stanley) to G. funebrana attack. Field data demonstrated the importance of some fruit parameters (i.e., elongation index, sugar degree, titratable acidity, cover colour percentage) on susceptibility to G. funebrana infestation. Und…
AM fungal exudates activate MAP kinases in plant cells in dependence from cytosolic Ca2+ increase
2011
International audience; The molecular dialogue occurring prior to direct contact between the fungal and plant partners of arbuscular-mycorrhizal (AM) symbioses begins with the release of fungal elicitors, so far only partially identified chemically, which can activate specific signaling pathways in the host plant. We show here that the activation of MAPK is also induced by exudates of germinating spores of Gigaspora margarita in cultured cells of the non-leguminous species tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), as well as in those of the model legume Lotus japonicus. MAPK activity peaked about 15 min after the exposure of the host cells to the fungal exudates (FE). FE were also responsible for a rapi…
Elevated oxidative stress in pied flycatcher nestlings of eumelanic foster fathers under low rearing temperatures
2019
Striking variation in melanin coloration within natural populations is likely due to the different fitness outcomes of alternative phenotypes in varying environmental conditions. There are two types of melanin: eumelanins yield blackish hues, whereas pheomelanins yield reddish hues. The production of eumelanins requires low levels of glutathione (GSH), which is the most important intracellular antioxidant, whereas the production of pheomelanins requires high levels of GSH. We investigated the oxidative status of male pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) with different degrees of melanin coloration under different temperatures during the nestling period. Moreover, we assessed the oxidative …
Parhyale plumicornis (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyalidae): is this an anti-lessepsian Mediterranean species? Morphological remarks, molecular markers and…
2016
Hyalid amphipods living in coastal marine habitats are frequently included in ecological studies. The systematics of this taxon has been subject to profound changes, with an emphasis on the North Pacific fauna. Since a proper species delimitation is a prerequisite in taxonomic and ecological studies, Parhyale plumicornis (Heller, 1866) has been herein re-described, showing the criticisms and mismatches of various characters, which were previously used in dichotomous keys. This species was collected for the first time off the western coast of Sicily Island (Italy: central Mediterranean Sea). The male is peculiar, due to the second antennae heavily setose posteriorly and bearing long tufts of…
Effect of temperature on pollen germination for several Rosaceae species: influence of freezing conservation time on germination patterns
2019
[EN] Between February 2018 and April 2018, flowers were collected from eight Rosaceae species. Flowers were kept in a freezer at -20 degrees C for three freezing times (Treatment 1, two months; Treatment 2, four months; Treatment 3, six months). After extracting pollen, in vitro germination was induced in a culture medium and incubated at six different temperatures for 72 h. The percentage of pollen germination, average pollen tube length and maximum pollen tube length were measured. Pollen germination was maximum for all species between 15 degrees C and 30 degrees C. Cydonia oblonga, Malus sylvestris, Prunus avium, Prunus domestica, Prunus dulcis, Prunus persica and Pyrus communis obtained…
Cytosolic calcium rises and related events in ergosterol-treated Nicotiana cells
2011
International audience; The typical fungal membrane component ergosterol was previously shown to trigger defence responses and protect plants against pathogens. Most of the elicitors mobilize the second messenger calcium, to trigger plant defences. We checked the involvement of calcium in response to ergosterol using Nicotiana plumbaginifolia and Nicotiana tabacum cv Xanthi cells expressing apoaequorin in the cytosol. First, it was verified if ergosterol was efficient in these cells inducing modifications of proton fluxes and increased expression of defence-related genes. Then, it was shown that ergosterol induced a rapid and transient biphasic increase of free [Ca2þ]cyt which intensity dep…
EFFECTIVENESS OF SPINOSAD AND MINERAL OIL BASED COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS ON OVIPOSITION AND EGG HATCHING OF GRAPHOLITA FUNEBRANA TREITSCHKE
2018
Laboratory trials were performed to evaluate the action of spinosad and mineral oil on eggs of Grapholita funebrana Treitschke, the key pest in plum orchards. Fruits of cultivars Angeleno, President and Stanley were used in the trials. The first set of tests was carried out by introducing two mated females of G. funebrana into a cage together with fruits of a single cultivar. The second set of trials tested the three cultivars simultaneously. In all trials, one third of the fruits of each cultivar was treated with mineral oil, another third with spinosad and the final third was left untreated. Treatments were carried out before introducing mated females into the cages. The number of fruits …
Sex-ratio and male sexual characters in a population of Blue tits Parus caeruleus
2005
Sex allocation theory proposes that parents should bias the sex ratio of their offspring if the reproductive value of one sex is greater than that of the other. In the monogamous blue tit (Parus caeruleus), males have a greater variance in reproductive success than females, and high-quality males have higher reproductive success than high-quality females due to extrapair paternity. Consequently, females mating with attractive males are expected to produce broods biased toward sons, as sons benefit more than daughters from inheriting their father’s characteristics. Song and plumage color in birds are secondary sexual characters indicating male quality and involved in female choice. We used t…