Dispersal and larval hosts of the zigzag sawfly Aproceros leucopoda (Hymenoptera) in Slovakia, Central Europe

Background and purposeThe zigzag elm sawfly, Aproceros leucopoda (Hymenoptera), originating from Asia is being considered as one of the major pests of elm trees (Ulmus spp.) within Europe where it was first recorded in 2003. Recent investigations document the fast spread of this invasive species in many European countries. In Slovakia, A. leucopoda was first recorded in 2009 but its occurrence here has not been reported since 2009. Herein, we summarize the data from the two consecutive years about the current distribution of A. leucopoda and its hosts in Slovakia, Central Europe, focusing on infestation of elm trees by this successful invader in different altitudes.Material and methodsIn 2014 and 2015 the investigations of A. leucopoda were conducted at 101 different plots across the country. At each plot, characteristic symptoms of leaf damage, occurrence of larvae, cocoons or adults were recorded along with the geographical coordinates and the altitude, and the host trees of A. leucopoda were identified at the species level. The distribution map of A. leucopoda was drawn using the field data. The infestation of elm trees along the altitudinal gradient was analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance followed by post-hoc Dunn\u27s test for multiple comparisons.Results and conclusionsThe zigzag elm sawfly A. leucopoda was observed at 31 plots (30.7%, n = 101). In elm trees examined, generally, a low level of infestation by this pest was observed. A. leucopoda was found at plots between 107 and 701 m a.s.l. The result show that the infestation level of elm trees was decreasing with increasing altitude. Although we had only a small sample of data, we assume that the altitude has a significant effect on distribution of this pest. The field elm (Ulmus minor Mill.) was the most frequently utilized host. Data collected document the establishment of this successful invader in Slovakia.</p

A spatially explicit database of wind disturbances in European forests over the period 2000-2018

Strong winds may uproot and break trees and represent a major natural disturbance for European forests. Wind disturbances have intensified over the last decades globally and are expected to further rise in view of the effects of climate change. Despite the importance of such natural disturbances, there are currently no spatially explicit databases of wind-related impact at a pan-European scale. Here, we present a new database of wind disturbances in European forests (FORWIND). FORWIND is comprised of more than 80 000 spatially delineated areas in Europe that were disturbed by wind in the period 2000-2018 and describes them in a harmonized and consistent geographical vector format. The database includes all major windstorms that occurred over the observational period (e.g. Gudrun, Kyrill, Klaus, Xynthia and Vaia) and represents approximately 30% of the reported damaging wind events in Europe. Correlation analyses between the areas in FORWIND and land cover changes retrieved from the Landsat-based Global Forest Change dataset and the MODIS Global Disturbance Index corroborate the robustness of FORWIND. Spearman rank coefficients range between 0.27 and 0.48 (p value &lt; 0.05). When recorded forest areas are rescaled based on their damage degree, correlation increases to 0.54. Wind-damaged growing stock volumes reported in national inventories (FORESTORM dataset) are generally higher than analogous metrics provided by FORWIND in combination with satellite-based biomass and country-scale statistics of growing stock volume. The potential of FORWIND is explored for a range of challenging topics and scientific fields, including scaling relations of wind damage, forest vulnerability modelling, remote sensing monitoring of forest disturbance, representation of uprooting and breakage of trees in large-scale land surface models, and hydrogeological risks following wind damage. Overall, FORWIND represents an essential and open-access spatial source that can be used to improve the understanding, detection and prediction of wind disturbances and the consequent impacts on forest ecosystems and the land-atmosphere system. Data sharing is encouraged in order to continuously update and improve FORWIND

Worldwide diversity of endophytic fungi and insects associated with dormant tree twigs

International trade in plants and climate change are two of the main factors causing damaging tree pests (i.e. fungi and insects) to spread into new areas. To mitigate these risks, a large-scale assessment of tree-associated fungi and insects is needed. We present records of endophytic fungi and insects in twigs of 17 angiosperm and gymnosperm genera, from 51 locations in 32 countries worldwide. Endophytic fungi were characterized by high-throughput sequencing of 352 samples from 145 tree species in 28 countries. Insects were reared from 227 samples of 109 tree species in 18 countries and sorted into taxonomic orders and feeding guilds. Herbivorous insects were grouped into morphospecies and were identified using molecular and morphological approaches. This dataset reveals the diversity of tree-associated taxa, as it contains 12,721 fungal Amplicon Sequence Variants and 208 herbivorous insect morphospecies, sampled across broad geographic and climatic gradients and for many tree species. This dataset will facilitate applied and fundamental studies on the distribution of fungal endophytes and insects in trees

Climate, host and geography shape insect and fungal communities of trees.

Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fungi collected from dormant twigs from 155 tree species at 51 botanical gardens or arboreta in 32 countries. Generalized dissimilarity models revealed similar relative importance of studied climatic, host-related and geographic factors on differences in tree-associated communities. Mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts and geographic distance between locations were the major drivers of dissimilarities. The increasing importance of high temperatures on differences in studied communities indicate that climate change could affect tree-associated organisms directly and indirectly through host range shifts. Insect and fungal communities were more similar between closely related vs. distant hosts suggesting that host range shifts may facilitate the emergence of new pests. Moreover, dissimilarities among tree-associated communities increased with geographic distance indicating that human-mediated transport may serve as a pathway of the introductions of new pests. The results of this study highlight the need to limit the establishment of tree pests and increase the resilience of forest ecosystems to changes in climate

La Pauvre Lise de N. M. Karamzin et le suicide féminin dans la littérature russe du XIXe siècle

Бедная Лиза Н. М. Карамзина и женское самоубийство в русской литературе XIX в. Статья исследует конституирование европейского либерального проекта «выбор» и «ответственность» в русской литературе XVIII века посредством проблемы женской смерти, представленной в повести Н. Карамзина Бедная Лиза. Самоубийство героини рассматривается в проекции сложного интертекстуального диалога, в котором автор вступает с романами С. Ричардсона Clarissa Harlowe, Ж.-Ж. Руссо Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, И. Гете Die Leiden des jungen Werther. В этом ракурсе Бедная Лиза является одним из первых русских «европейских» произведений из-за того, что Н. Карамзин трансформировал, в русском контексте, код женского страдания. С другой стороны статья анализирует развитие мотива в драме А. Островского Гроза и в романе Л. Толстого Анна Каренина. И доказывает, что женское самоубийство (интерпретированное как тендерная оппозиция) переворачивает знак женского тела из жертвы в морального победителя.Poor Liza by N. M. Karamzin and Female Suicide in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature The paper studies the constituting of European liberal project 'choice' and 'responsibility' in 18-th century Russian Literature through the problem of female death, as been referenced in N. M. Karamzin's short novel Poor Liza. The heroine's suicide is interpreted in the author's complex intertextual dialogue with such emblematic novels as Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe, Rousseau's Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther. Poor Liza is an important part of this European context and is seen as one of the first Russia's 'European' literary works, as far as Karamzin changes in that dialogue the code of female suffering. On the other hand the paper analyses the development of the theme in A. Ostrovsky's drama The Storm and in L. Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina and it is shown that the suicide (interpreted as a gender opposition between women and men) transforms the sign of female body from a victim into a moral victor.Manolakev Christo, Vrinat-Nikolov Marie. La Pauvre Lise de N. M. Karamzin et le suicide féminin dans la littérature russe du XIXe siècle. In: Revue des études slaves, tome 74, fascicule 4, 2002. pp. 729-739

Comparison of pheromone traps for monitoring of the European spruce bark beetle

Six trap models were compared with respect to their ability to capture European spruce bark beetles and technical details in handling and use. All trap models proved to be efficient and gave high captures of beetles during operation for one summer season (2013). Ranking the trap models in descending order of total capture of beetles gave this list: Lindgren trap, Theysohn, prototype-P, Ecotrap, BEKA, and prototype-K. However, there was much variation in trapping results between localities for all trap models, and the estimated means did in most cases not differ significantly between models. The estimated mean capture of the Lindgren trap was significantly higher than for prototype-K and BEKA, but their confidence intervals were wide and they were close to being insignificantly different. The retail price of the traps vary from about 10 € (Ecotrap) to 50-55 € (Lindgren), while prices are not available for the two prototypes, which are not in regular production. Advantages and disadvantages concerning weight, size, robustness, draining of rain water, ease of handling and mounting are commented on in the discussion, and technical details of the traps are presented in a separate appendix (6).publishedVersio