Scale Insects on Ornamental Plants

8 pp., 3 tables, 18 photosScale insects damage landscape plants, shrubs and trees. This publication explains how to control scale insects economically without damaging the environment, including sampling for scale crawlers, using natural enemies and applying pesticides

Springtails

Springtails are an insect pest of lawns and homes. They are not harmful to people, pets, plants, structures or furnishings. However, their presence and jumping behaviors make them a nuisance. This publication offers ideas for controlling them

Biological Control of Saltcedar

Saltcedar is an exotic shrub or small tree that has spread throughout the rivers, streams and lakes of west and southwest Texas and other areas of the western United States. This brochure explains an effort to introduce the saltcedar leaf beetle as a biological control measure against saltcedar. 8 pp., 3 photo

Evaluation of Wiring Constructions for Space Applications

A NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OS&MA) program to develop lightweight, reliable, and safe wiring insulations for aerospace applications is being performed by the NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC). As part of this effort, a new wiring construction utilizing high strength PTFE (poly tetrafluoroethylene) as the insulation has been tested and compared with the existing military standard polyimide-based MIL-W-81381 wire construction. Electrical properties which were investigated included ac corona inception and extinction voltages (sea level and 60,000 feet), time/current to smoke, and wire fusing time. The two constructions were also characterized in terms of their mechanical properties of flexural strength, abrasion resistance (23 C and 150 C), and dynamic cut-through (23 C and 200 C). The results obtained in this testing effort are presented and discussed in this paper

Comparative metagenomic, phylogenetic and physiological analyses of soil microbial communities across nitrogen gradients

Terrestrial ecosystems are receiving elevated inputs of nitrogen (N) from anthropogenic sources and understanding how these increases in N availability affect soil microbial communities is critical for predicting the associated effects on belowground ecosystems. We used a suite of approaches to analyze the structure and functional characteristics of soil microbial communities from replicated plots in two long-term N fertilization experiments located in contrasting systems. Pyrosequencing-based analyses of 16S rRNA genes revealed no significant effects of N fertilization on bacterial diversity, but significant effects on community composition at both sites; copiotrophic taxa (including members of the Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla) typically increased in relative abundance in the high N plots, with oligotrophic taxa (mainly Acidobacteria) exhibiting the opposite pattern. Consistent with the phylogenetic shifts under N fertilization, shotgun metagenomic sequencing revealed increases in the relative abundances of genes associated with DNA/RNA replication, electron transport and protein metabolism, increases that could be resolved even with the shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing conducted here (average of 75 000 reads per sample). We also observed shifts in the catabolic capabilities of the communities across the N gradients that were significantly correlated with the phylogenetic and metagenomic responses, indicating possible linkages between the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities. Overall, our results suggest that N fertilization may, directly or indirectly, induce a shift in the predominant microbial life-history strategies, favoring a more active, copiotrophic microbial community, a pattern that parallels the often observed replacement of K-selected with r-selected plant species with elevated N

Description of Evalljapyx limpia, n. sp. (Diplura: Japygidae) from the Davis mountains of western Texas

Volume: 106Start Page: 923End Page: 92

Managing Insect and Mite Pests of Texas Forage Crops

32 pp., 29 tables, photosThis publication describes and illustrates common pests of forage crops in Texas. It discusses treatment options and pesticide application techniques as well as specific insecticides labeled to treat specific pests