685 research outputs found
The ecosystem and evolutionary contexts of allelopathy
Plants can release chemicals into the environment that suppress the growth and establishment of other plants in their vicinity, a process known as ‘allelopathy’. However, chemicals with allelopathic functions have other ecological roles, such as plant defense, nutrient chelation, and regulation of soil biota in ways that affect decomposition and soil fertility. These ecosystem-scale roles of allelopathic chemicals can augment, attenuate or modify their community-scale functions. In this review we explore allelopathy in the context of ecosystem properties, and through its role in exotic invasions consider how evolution might affect the intensity and importance of allelopathic interactions
The Benefits of Induced Defenses Against Herbivores
Previous explanations for the evolution of induced resistance of plants to herbivory emphasized arguments based on saving costs when allocations to defense were not needed; these models met with limited empirical support. We offer a novel explanation based on induced resistance providing increased variability in defense. As long as maximal levels of defense are constrained, variability will increase the effectiveness of a given level of investment in defense. We show that variability can decrease herbivore performance if herbivore performance is a concave function of the level of resistance. In particular, if herbivores can choose among different plants and plant tissues, then variability created by induced resistance may benefit plants under attack and hence may be favored by selection. The key assumptions of this model are broadly supported by empirical data from many plant–herbivore systems.This work was supported by USDA NRI 9602065
Scientific and methodical foundations of accounting and analytical provisions of profit administration in a company Научно-методические основы учетно-аналитического обеспечения управления прибылью предприятия
The article considers organisation of accounting and analytical provisions on principles of strategic approaches. It systemises objects of accounting on the basis of its functional directions for perfection of profit administration in a company. It analyses results of recent studies of scientists, reveals different views upon the “strategic accounting” notion. It studies specific features of accounting and analytical provisions of profit administration, conducts a search for scientific and methodical approaches to carrying out a strategic analysis and provides proposals on perfection of accounting and analytical provisions of profit administration in a company.<br>В статье рассмотрена организация учетно-аналитического обеспечения на принципах стратегических подходов. Систематизированы объекты управления, исходя из его функциональной направленности, для совершенствования управления прибылью предприятия. Проанализированы результаты последних исследований ученых, выявлены различные взгляды на понятие «стратегический учет». Исследованы особенности учетно-аналитического обеспечения управления прибылью, проведен поиск научно-методических подходов к проведению стратегического анализа и даны предложения по усовершенствованию учетно-аналитического обеспечения управления прибылью предприятия
Resolvent modelling of jet noise: the need for forcing models
The singular value decomposition of the mean-flow-based resolvent operator,
or resolvent analysis, has proven to provide essential insights into the
dynamics of various turbulent flows. In this study, we perform a resolvent
analysis of a compressible turbulent jet, where the optimisation domain of the
response modes is located in the acoustic field, excluding the hydrodynamic
region, in order to promote acoustically efficient modes. We examine the
properties of the acoustic resolvent and assess its potential for jet-noise
modelling, focusing on the subsonic regime. We compare resolvent modes with
SPOD modes educed from LES data. Resolvent forcing modes, consistent with
previous studies, are found to contain supersonic waves associated with Mach
wave radiation in the response modes. This differs from the standard resolvent
in which hydrodynamic instabilities dominate. Acoustic resolvent response modes
generally have better alignment with acoustic SPOD modes than standard
resolvent response modes. For the optimal mode, the angle of the acoustic beam
is close to that found in SPOD modes for moderate frequencies. However, there
is no significant separation between the singular values of the leading and
sub-optimal modes. Some suboptimal modes are furthermore shown to contain
irrelevant structure for jet noise. Thus, even though it contains essential
acoustic features absent from the standard resolvent approach, the SVD of the
acoustic resolvent alone is insufficient to educe a low-rank model for jet
noise. But because it identifies the prevailing mechanisms of jet noise, it
provides valuable guidelines in the search of a forcing model (Karban
2022, An empirical model of noise sources in subsonic jets.
arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.01866).Comment: 24 pages, 20 figure
Solutions to aliasing in time-resolved flow data
Avoiding aliasing in time-resolved flow data obtained through high fidelity
simulations while keeping the computational and storage costs at acceptable
levels is often a challenge. Well-established solutions such as increasing the
sampling rate or low-pass filtering to reduce aliasing can be prohibitively
expensive for large data sets. This paper provides a set of alternative
strategies for identifying and mitigating aliasing that are applicable even to
large data sets. We show how time-derivative data, which can be obtained
directly from the governing equations, can be used to detect aliasing and to
turn the ill-posed problem of removing aliasing from data into a well-posed
problem, yielding a prediction of the true spectrum. Similarly, we show how
spatial filtering can be used to remove aliasing for convective systems. We
also propose strategies to avoid aliasing when generating a database, including
a method tailored for computing nonlinear forcing terms that arise within the
resolvent framework. These methods are demonstrated using large-eddy simulation
(LES) data for a subsonic turbulent jet and a non-linear Ginzburg-Landau model.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figure
Water-Borne Cues of a Non-Indigenous Seaweed Mediate Grazer-Deterrent Responses in Native Seaweeds, but Not Vice Versa
Plants optimise their resistance to herbivores by regulating deterrent responses on demand. Induction of anti-herbivory defences can occur directly in grazed plants or from emission of risk cues to the environment, which modifies interactions of adjacent plants with, for instance, their consumers. This study confirmed the induction of anti-herbivory responses by water-borne risk cues between adjoining con-specific seaweeds and firstly examined whether plant-plant signalling also exists among adjacent hetero-specific seaweeds. Furthermore, differential abilities and geographic variation in plant-plant signalling by a non-indigenous seaweed as well as native seaweeds were assessed. Twelve-day induction experiments using the non-indigenous seaweed Sargassum muticum were conducted in the laboratory in Portugal and Germany with one local con-familiar (Portugal: Cystoseira humilis, Germany: Halidrys siliquosa) and hetero-familiar native species (Portugal: Fucus spiralis, Germany: F. vesiculosus). All seaweeds were grazed by a local isopod species (Portugal: Stenosoma nadejda, Germany: Idotea baltica) and were positioned upstream of con- and hetero-specific seaweeds. Grazing-induced modification in seaweed traits were tested in three-day feeding assays between cue-exposed and cue-free ( = control) pieces of both fresh and reconstituted seaweeds. Both Fucus species reduced their palatability when positioned downstream of isopod-grazed con-specifics. Yet, the palatability of non-indigenous S. muticum remained constant in the presence of upstream grazed con-specifics and native hetero-specifics. In contrast, both con-familiar (but neither hetero-familiar) native species reduced palatability when located downstream of grazed S. muticum. Similar patterns of grazer-deterrent responses to water-borne cues were observed on both European shores, and were almost identical between assays using fresh and reconstituted seaweeds. Hence, seaweeds may use plant-plant signalling to optimise chemical resistance to consumers, though this ability appeared to be species-specific. Furthermore, this study suggests that native species may benefit more than a non-indigenous species from water-borne cue mediated reduction in consumption as only natives responded to signals emitted by hetero-specifics
The Composite Effect of Transgenic Plant Volatiles for Acquired Immunity to Herbivory Caused by Inter-Plant Communications
A blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from plants induced by herbivory enables the priming of defensive responses in neighboring plants. These effects may provide insights useful for pest control achieved with transgenic-plant-emitted volatiles. We therefore investigated, under both laboratory and greenhouse conditions, the priming of defense responses in plants (lima bean and corn) by exposing them to transgenic-plant-volatiles (VOCos) including (E)-β-ocimene, emitted from transgenic tobacco plants (NtOS2) that were constitutively overexpressing (E)-β-ocimene synthase. When lima bean plants that had previously been placed downwind of NtOS2 in an open-flow tunnel were infested by spider mites, they were more defensive to spider mites and more attractive to predatory mites, in comparison to the infested plants that had been placed downwind of wild-type tobacco plants. This was similarly observed when the NtOS2-downwind maize plants were infested with Mythimna separata larvae, resulting in reduced larval growth and greater attraction of parasitic wasps (Cotesia kariyai). In a greenhouse experiment, we also found that lima bean plants (VOCos-receiver plants) placed near NtOS2 were more attractive when damaged by spider mites, in comparison to the infested plants that had been placed near the wild-type plants. More intriguingly, VOCs emitted from infested VOCos-receiver plants affected their conspecific neighboring plants to prime indirect defenses in response to herbivory. Altogether, these data suggest that transgenic-plant-emitted volatiles can enhance the ability to prime indirect defenses via both plant-plant and plant-plant-plant communications
Messages from the other side: parasites receive damage cues from their host plants
As sessile organisms, plants rely on their environment for cues indicating imminent herbivory. These cues can originate from tissues on the same plant or from different individuals. Since parasitic plants form vascular connections with their host, parasites have the potential to receive cues from hosts that allow them to adjust defenses against future herbivory. However, the role of plant communication between hosts and parasites for herbivore defense remains poorly investigated. Here we examined the effects of damage to lupine hosts (Lupinus texensis) on responses of the attached hemiparasite (Castilleja indivisa), and indirectly, on a specialist herbivore of the parasite, buckeyes (Junonia coenia). Lupines produce alkaloids as defenses against herbivore that can be taken up by the parasite. We found that damage to lupine host plants by beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) significantly increased jasmonic acid (JA) levels in both the lupine host and parasite, suggesting uptake of phytohormones or priming of parasite defenses using host cues. However, lupine host damage did not induce changes in alkaloid levels in the hosts or parasites. Interestingly, the parasite had substantially higher concentrations of JA and alkaloids compared to lupine host plants. Buckeye herbivores consumed more parasite tissue when attached to damaged compared to undamaged hosts. We hypothesize that increased JA due to lupine host damage induced higher iridoid glycosides in the parasite, which are feeding stimulants for this specialist herbivore. Our results demonstrate that damage to hosts may affect both parasites and associated herbivores, indicating cascading effects of host damage on multiple trophic levels
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