Técnica de criação de Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied., 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae) em laboratório utilizando hospedeiro natural.

Uma técnica para criação de todas as fases de desenvolvimento da mosca-das-frutas sul-americana, Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied., 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae), em laboratório (T 24 ± 2°C; UR 70 ± 10% e fotofase 16 horas) utilizando dieta natural foi avaliada e descrita. Os adultos foram criados em gaiolas plásticas de polietileno transparente (41 x 29,5 x 30 cm) e alimentados com dieta artificial contendo extrato de soja, açúcar mascavo e gérmen de trigo, nas proporções de 3:1:1, além de água. Em cada gaiola, foi utilizada uma densidade média de 167 ± 25 casais. As fêmeas ovipositaram em frutos de mamão-papaia (Carica papaya L.) trocados a intervalos de 48 horas e mantidos em caixas plásticas (37 x 14 x 29 cm) com fundo coberto por vermiculita. Sobre a camada de vermiculita, foi colocada uma tela plástica de malha de 2 mm, para facilitar a retirada dos restos de mamão desidratado após o desenvolvimento larval. As larvas completaram o desenvolvimento no mamão passando à fase de pupa após 15 ± 2 dias. Em cada mamão (401 ± 16 gramas), foram coletadas 168 ± 27 pupas, obtendo-se 385 ± 44 pupas (viabilidade de 95 ± 2%) por semana, com peso médio de 1,33 ± 0,05 gramas a cada 100 pupas. Os insetos obtidos podem ser destinados a condução de bioensaios ou na manutenção da criação. A metodologia descrita permite o desenvolvimento de uma geração (ovo-adulto) a cada 32 ± 2 dias, perfazendo aproximadamente 11 gerações/ano.bitstream/item/31529/1/bop015.pd

Assessing the ecological vulnerability of the shallow steppe Lake Neusiedl (Austria-Hungary) to climate-driven hydrological changes using a palaeolimnological approach

9openInternationalBothLake Neusiedl, the largest steppe lake in Europe, is particularly sensitive to climate variations due to its extreme shallowness (zmax = 1.8 m) and low ratio of catchment to lake area (3.5 : 1). Changes in water budget, salinity and turbidity have key implications for the lake’s ecology and management. Here, we present a multi-proxy palaeolimnological reconstruction of the evolution of Lake Neusiedl since the end of its last complete desiccation (1865–1868), based on an undisturbed radiometrically dated core taken from the open water portion of the lake. Geochemical and biological (algal) proxies outline the succession of three major ecological stages since 1873 ± 16 yrs, with the first major changes appearing already in the 1930s as driven by climate related hydrological variability. Subfossil diatoms proved to be reliable for tracking long-term changes in the trophic conditions of Lake Neusiedl while diatom-inferred lake conductivity revealed to be unreliable due to a combination of lake environmental settings and the absence of a site-specific training set. Nonetheless, multivariate statistical analyses and comparisons with limnological data confirm a great potential of subfossil diatoms for revealing past ecological changes and tipping points of shallow lakes, as long as studies rely on a multi-proxy approach. In agreement with limnological surveys, the sediment record corroborates the high vulnerability of Lake Neusiedl, both in present and past times, towards climate-driven changes in water level and salinity, and allows the prediction, by analogy with the past, of future ecological changes in a context of global warming and increasing nutrient inputs from non-point sources.openTolotti, M.; Guella, G.; Herzig, A.; Rodeghiero, M.; Rose, N.L.; Soja, G.; Zechmeister, T.; Yang, H.; Teubner, K.Tolotti, M.; Guella, G.; Herzig, A.; Rodeghiero, M.; Rose, N.L.; Soja, G.; Zechmeister, T.; Yang, H.; Teubner, K

Risk tolerance levels for insurance companies

We describe two procedures that assist insurance firms in determining shareholders' risk tolerance thresholds and in using such thresholds within the decision-making process. The first procedure is based on parsimonious measures of the risk/return tradeoff such as the Sharpe Ratio; the second procedure makes a direct use of expected utility theory

Plasmopara viticola infection affects mineral elements allocation and distribution in Vitis vinifera leaves

Plasmopara viticola is one of the most important pathogens infecting Vitis vinifera plants. The interactions among P. viticola and both susceptible and resistant grapevine plants have been extensively characterised, at transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic levels. However, the involvement of plants ionome in the response against the pathogen has been completely neglected so far. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the possible role of leaf ionomic modulation during compatible and incompatible interactions between P. viticola and grapevine plants. In susceptible cultivars, a dramatic redistribution of mineral elements has been observed, thus uncovering a possible role for mineral nutrients in the response against pathogens. On the contrary, the resistant cultivars did not present substantial rearrangement of mineral elements at leaf level, except for manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe). This might demonstrate that, resistant cultivars, albeit expressing the resistance gene, still exploit a pathogen response mechanism based on the local increase in the concentration of microelements, which are involved in the synthesis of secondary metabolites and reactive oxygen species. Moreover, these data also highlight the link between the mineral nutrition and plants\u2019 response to pathogens, further stressing that appropriate fertilization strategies can be fundamental for the expression of response mechanisms against pathogens

Living organisms and sedimentary remains from high mountain lakes in the Alps

We publish a data set of environmental and biological data collected in 2000 during the ice-free period in high mountain lakes located above the local timberline in the Alps, in Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Environmental data include coordinates, geographical attributes and detailed information on vegetation, bedrock and land use in lake catchments. Chemical analyses of a sample for each lake collected at the lake surface in Summer 2000 are also reported. Biological data include phytoplankton (floating algae and cyanobacteria), zooplankton (floating animals), macroinvertebrates (aquatic organisms visible to the naked eye living in contact with sediments on lake bottom), benthic diatoms. Diatoms, cladocera and chironomids remains and algal and bacterial pigments were also analysed in lake sediments

Novos registros de cigarrinhas (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) associadas às pastagens no Estado do Acre.

As cigarrinhas-das-pastagens (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) são insetos sugadores de seiva, cujos adultos vivem na parte aérea de gramíneas, e suas ninfas ficam protegidas, na base das plantas, por uma espuma branca característica. Tanto ninfas quanto adultos sugam a seiva da planta, reduzindo os nutrientes disponíveis para o crescimento da parte aérea e raízes. Foi realizado um levantamento das espécies cigarrinhas-das-pastagens na Fazenda Iquiri, município de Senador Guiomard, em pastagem de Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraés (MG-5), no período de março de 2015 a maio de 2017

Inelastic Black Hole Scattering from Charged Scalar Amplitudes

We explain how the lowest-order classical gravitational radiation produced during the inelastic scattering of two Schwarzschild black holes in General Relativity can be obtained from a tree scattering amplitude in gauge theory coupled to scalar fields. The gauge calculation is related to gravity through the double copy. We remove unwanted scalar forces which can occur in the double copy by introducing a massless scalar in the gauge theory, which is treated as a ghost in the link to gravity. We hope these methods are a step towards a direct application of the double copy at higher orders in classical perturbation theory, with the potential to greatly streamline gravity calculations for phenomenological applications.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figure

The Kerr-Schild double copy in curved spacetime

We thank Tim Adamo, Ricardo Monteiro and Donal O’Connell for discussions and / or comments on the manuscript. CDW and NBA are supported by the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). AL is funded by a Conacyt studentship, and thanks Queen Mary University of London for hospitalit