Parasitoid load affects plant fitness in a tritrophic system

Plants attacked by herbivorous insects emit volatile compounds that attract predators or parasitoids of the herbivores. Plant fitness increases when these herbivorous insects are parasitized by solitary parasitoids, but whether gregarious koinobiont parasitoids also confer a benefit to plant fitness has been disputed. We investigated the relationship between parasitoid load of the gregarious Cotesia glomerata (L.) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), food consumption by larvae of their host Pieris brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), and seed production in a host plant, Brassica nigra L. (Brassicaceae), in a greenhouse experiment. Plants damaged by caterpillars containing single parasitoid broods produced a similar amount of seeds as undamaged control plants and produced significantly more seeds than plants with unparasitized caterpillars feeding on them. Increasing the parasitoid load to levels likely resulting from superparasitization, feeding by parasitized caterpillars was significantly negatively correlated with plant seed production. Higher parasitoid brood sizes were negatively correlated with pupal weight of Cotesia glomerata, revealing scramble competition leading to a fitness trade-off for the parasitoid. Our results suggest that in this tritrophic system plant fitness is higher when the gregarious parasitoid deposits a single brood into its herbivorous host. A prediction following from these results is that plants benefit from recruiting parasitoids when superparasitization is prevented. This is supported by our previous results on down-regulation of synomone production when Brassica oleracea was fed on by parasitized caterpillars of P. brassicae. We conclude that variable parasitoid loads in gregarious koinobiont parasitoids largely explain existing controversies about the putative benefit of recruiting these parasitoids for plant reproduction

Deformations of calibrated subbundles of Euclidean spaces via twisting by special sections

We extend the "bundle constructions" of calibrated submanifolds, due to Harvey--Lawson in the special Lagrangian case, and to Ionel--Karigiannis--Min-Oo in the cases of exceptional calibrations, by "twisting" the bundles by a special (harmonic, holomorphic, parallel) section of a complementary bundle. The existence of such deformations shows that the moduli space of calibrated deformations of these "calibrated subbundles" includes deformations which destroy the linear structure of the fibre.Comment: 16 pages, no figures. Version 2: Only minor cosmetic and typographical revisions. To appear in "Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry.

Localized modes at a D-brane--O-plane intersection and heterotic Alice strings

We study a system of $N_c$ $D3$-branes intersecting $D7$-branes and $O7$-planes in 1+1-dimensions. We use anomaly cancellation and string dualities to argue that there must be chiral fermion zero-modes on the $D3$-branes which are localized near the $O7$-planes. Away from the orientifold limit we verify this by using index theory as well as explicit construction of the zero-modes. This system is related to F-theory on K3 and heterotic matrix string theory, and the heterotic strings are related to Alice string defects in $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super-Yang-Mills. In the limit of large $N_c$ we find an $AdS_3$ dual of the heterotic matrix string CFT.Comment: 44 pages, typos corrected, version published in JHE

Anisotropic intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity of phosphorene from first principles

Phosphorene, the single layer counterpart of black phosphorus, is a novel two-dimensional semiconductor with high carrier mobility and a large fundamental direct band gap, which has attracted tremendous interest recently. Its potential applications in nano-electronics and thermoelectrics call for a fundamental study of the phonon transport. Here, we calculate the intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity of phosphorene by solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) based on first-principles calculations. The thermal conductivity of phosphorene at $300\,\mathrm{K}$ is $30.15\,\mathrm{Wm^{-1}K^{-1}}$ (zigzag) and $13.65\,\mathrm{Wm^{-1}K^{-1}}$ (armchair), showing an obvious anisotropy along different directions. The calculated thermal conductivity fits perfectly to the inverse relation with temperature when the temperature is higher than Debye temperature ($\Theta_D = 278.66\,\mathrm{K}$). In comparison to graphene, the minor contribution around $5\%$ of the ZA mode is responsible for the low thermal conductivity of phosphorene. In addition, the representative mean free path (MFP), a critical size for phonon transport, is also obtained.Comment: 5 pages and 6 figures, Supplemental Material available as http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cp/c4/c4cp04858j/c4cp04858j1.pd

Deformed Matrix Theories with N=8 and Fivebranes in the PP Wave Background

M(atrix) theory is known to be mass-deformed in the pp-wave background and still retains all 16 dynamical supersymmetries. We consider generalization of such deformations on super Yang-Mills quantum mechanics (SYQM) with less supersymmetry. In particular this includes N=8 U(N) SYQM with a single adjoint and any number of fundamental hypermultiplets, which is a pp-wave deformation of DLCQ matrix theory of fivebranes. With k >= 1 fivebranes, we show that a rich vacuum structure exists, with many continuous family of solutions that preserve all dynamical supersymmetries. The vacuum moduli space contains copies of CP^{k-1} of various sizes.Comment: latex file, 23 pages, no figures, typos corrected, now in JHEP styl

D0 Matrix Mechanics: New Fuzzy Solutions at Large N

We wish to consider in this report the large N limit of a particular matrix model introduced by Myers describing D-brane physics in the presence of an RR flux background. At finite N, fuzzy spheres appear naturally as non-trivial solutions to this matrix model and have been extensively studied. In this report, we wish to demonstrate several new classes of solutions which appear in the large N limit, corresponding to the fuzzy cylinder,the fuzzy plane and a warped fuzzy plane. The latter two solutions arise from a possible "central extension" to our model that arises after we account for non-trivial issues involved in the large N limit. As is the case for finite N, these new solutions are to be interpreted as constituent D0-branes forming D2 bound states describing new fuzzy geometries.Comment: revised version: references added, derivation of "central extensions" improved upon. To appear in JHE

A Class of Topological Actions

We review definitions of generalized parallel transports in terms of Cheeger-Simons differential characters. Integration formulae are given in terms of Deligne-Beilinson cohomology classes. These representations of parallel transport can be extended to situations involving distributions as is appropriate in the context of quantized fields.Comment: 41 pages, no figure

Asymptotically cylindrical 7-manifolds of holonomy G_2 with applications to compact irreducible G_2-manifolds

We construct examples of exponentially asymptotically cylindrical Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy group equal to G_2. To our knowledge, these are the first such examples. We also obtain exponentially asymptotically cylindrical coassociative calibrated submanifolds. Finally, we apply our results to show that one of the compact G_2-manifolds constructed by Joyce by desingularisation of a flat orbifold T^7/\Gamma can be deformed to one of the compact G_2-manifolds obtainable as a generalized connected sum of two exponentially asymptotically cylindrical SU(3)-manifolds via the method given by the first author (math.DG/0012189).Comment: 36 pages; v2: corrected trivial typos; v3: some arguments corrected and improved; v4: a number of improvements on presentation, paritularly in sections 4 and 6, including an added picture

Supersymmetric AdS5 black holes

The first examples of supersymmetric, asymptotically AdS5, black hole solutions are presented. They form a 1-parameter family of solutions of minimal five-dimensional gauged supergravity. Their angular momentum can never vanish. The solutions are obtained by a systematic analysis of supersymmetric solutions with Killing horizons. Other new examples of such solutions are obtained. These include solutions for which the horizon is a homogeneous Nil or SL(2,R) manifold.Comment: 31 pages. v2: References and calculation of holographic stress tensor added. v3: Solutions preserve 2 supersymmetries. Our original claim that they preserve 4 supersymmetries was based on Ref. [30], which contains a mistake (the general timelike solution preserves 2, not 4, supersymmetries). Nothing else affecte

Coastal agricultural landscapes: Mapping and understanding grazing intensity on Welsh saltmarshes

Coastal wetlands such as saltmarshes support local communities and industries through ecosystem services and benefit the well-being of local communities in many regions of the world. Along sheltered temperate and sub-tropical coastlines, saltmarshes provide coastal protection, provision of recreational space and wildlife habitat. Those in northwest Europe provide a valuable resource for local agricultural communities through livestock grazing. Following the departure of the UK from the EU and the related potential changes to agricultural policies and markets, it is timely to evaluate the status of saltmarsh livestock grazing. In particular, knowledge of grazing patterns, policy futures and stakeholder perceptions are required to support traditional cultural practice and the ecological status of saltmarshes. This study focuses on the devolved UK nation of Wales, as it has a strong traditional agricultural and pastoral economy, and a landscape of significant conservation value. Yet there are substantial evidence and knowledge gaps regarding livestock grazing and its saltmarsh impact. We present the first map showing the spatial distribution of saltmarsh grazing practice in the UK. Drawing on insights gathered through an expert workshop and interviews with saltmarsh landowners and managers across Wales (N = 35), the paper discusses the challenges and benefits of coastal grazing on saltmarshes, highlighting the diverse values, personal connection and sense of identity associated with marshes. Interviews reveal deep rooted social and cultural values attributed to saltmarshes by the rural coastal community. The study illustrates the need for an integrated approach to management of saltmarshes, accounting for the social, cultural, economic, and environmental values within decision-making