Framing Emotive and Perspective Space : the Sundance Center for the Exhibition and Study of Film

A “Bauhaus” of academic programs including film studies, neurology, and psychology, use a museum and exhibition venue for the Sundance Film Festival in order to study the effects of visual recognition on the way we perceive and how it affects emotion, framing architectural perspective using film making techniques

Invasional conflict: Do invasive insect herbivores mediate the effects of enemy release for their invasive plant hosts?

Although many factors have been proposed that potentially contribute to invasion success in plants, it remains unclear why some species successfully establish and become dominant while others do not. The most often cited explanation for the success of invasive plants worldwide is the enemy release hypothesis (ERH), which maintains that populations are kept in check by their co-evolved natural enemies in their native range, but are released from this regulation in the new range. Although there is evidence that introduced plant species often experience a decrease in damage by herbivores in the novel range, it is uncertain if this decrease affects plant productivity. The purpose of this study was 1) to determine if the invasive plant _Eugenia uniflora_ (Myrtaceae) experiences release from enemies and 2) if enemy release increases growth and survival for this species relative to co-occurring native congeners _E. axillaris_ and _E. foetida_. An insect herbivore exclusion experiment using insecticide was conducted in the field to assess differences in insect herbivore damage, leaf number, height, and survival for all three species. The results contradict the ERH, showing that _E. uniflora_ has a greater proportion of damaged leaves and experiences a greater reduction in this damage when herbivores are excluded from the system, relative to the two native congeners. A trend exhibited by the data also demonstrates that exclusion of enemies positively affects growth and survival for all three species, indicating that _E. uniflora_ has not experienced enemy release in its new range. This may be explained by the fact that _E. uniflora_ exhibits, with few exceptions, mostly damage characteristic of a notching weevil, _Myllocerus undatus_, a recent import from Sri Lanka. _E. uniflora_ originates in Brazil, so these species share no coevolutionary history. The results of this study indicate that _M. undatus_ may have a negative effect on _E. uniflora_, potentially benefitting the native species by reducing competition. In contrast to invasional meltdown, this is a potential example of another type of interaction, which we have termed “invasional conflict”. This interaction will undoubtedly become much more prevalent as more species are introduced, become established, and interact with one another, forming new biological associations. 
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Impactos del pastoreo del ciervo de los cayos, una especie en peligro de extinción, sobre el también amenazado pinar rupícola: ¿un dilema conservativo?

In the lower Florida Keys, endangered Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) herbivory, along with fire, can affect pine rocklands, an endangered plant community. We compared pineland vegetation from three studies over approximately 50 years on four islands with either high or low deer density (historical analysis). We also compared extant vegetation samples between two islands with high or low deer density, which contained pinelands burned 10 years and 14 years prior to sampling and control areas (unburned for > 50 yr). In addition, experimental deer exclosures and control plots established in pineland were prescribe burned and analyzed for deer effects on an island with high density of Key deer. The historical analysis suggests that, over time, deer–preferred plant species declined while less–preferred species increased, regardless of fire history on islands. The extant vegetation analysis suggests that fire and Key deer herbivory both reduce hardwood plant density and growth. Densities of deer–preferred woody species were higher on an island with low deer density than on an island with high deer density in burn treatments, but relatively similar in control areas. On the high deer density island, a fire effect was evident in that the control area had higher densities of woody species than burned areas, and herbaceous species richness was higher in the control area, indicating a possible refuge from deer herbivory. In deer exclosures, preferred woody species and herbaceous species tended to increase after fire, but decrease in adjacent open plots. Results suggest that Key deer herbivory, along with fire, shapes pine rockland plant communities, and that overbrowsing might have substantial impacts on preferred herbaceous and woody species in pinelands. Therefore, efforts could be confounded in managing both the endangered Key deer and the endangered pine rocklands that they affect.En los cayos del sur de Florida, el pastoreo del ciervo de los cayos (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), junto con los incendios, pueden afectar a los pinares rupícolas, una comunidad vegetal en peligro. Hemos comparado la vegetación de los pinares de tres estudios llevados a cabo durante aproximadamente 50 años en cuatro islas con densidades de ciervos altas o bajas (análisis histórico). También comparamos muestras de vegetación existentes en dos islas con una densidad alta y baja de ciervos, que contenían pinares quemados 10 y 14 años antes del muestreo con áreas de control (sin incendiar durante más de 50 años). Además, se incendiaron intencionadamente y se analizaron parcelas experimentales con exclusión de ciervos y de control, para conocer los efectos de los ciervos en una isla con una gran densidad de éstos de los cayos. El análisis histórico sugirió que, con los años, las especies de plantas preferidas por los ciervos decayeron, mientras que las menos preferidas proliferaron, independientemente de los incendios sufridos. El análisis de la vegetación existente sugiere que tanto los incendios como la alimentación de los ciervos reducen la densidad y el crecimiento de la vegetación leñosa. Las densidades de las especies leñosas preferidas por los ciervos eran mayores en la isla con una densidad baja de ciervos, que en la isla con una densidad alta de ciervos tras los incendios, pero eran relativamente similares en las áreas de control. En la isla con una mayor densidad de ciervos, los efectos del fuego eran evidentes, ya que el área de control poseía mayores densidades de especies leñosas que las áreas incendiadas, y la riqueza de especies herbáceas era mayor en la zona de control, lo que indicaba que se trataba posiblemente de un refugio ante los ciervos. En las zonas cerradas a los ciervos, las especies herbáceas y las leñosas preferidas por los ciervos tendían a aumentar tras el incendio, pero disminuían en las áreas abiertas adyacentes. Los resultados sugieren que el pastoreo del ciervo de los cayos, junto con el fuego, dan forma a las comunidades vegetales rupícolas, y que el sobrepastoreo puede tener un impacto sustancial sobre las especies herbáceas leñosas preferidas de los pinares. Por lo tanto, los esfuerzos para la gestión, tanto del amenazado ciervo de los cayos como de los pinares rupícolas afectados por éste, también en peligro, podrían ser contradictorios

Integrated pest management portfolios in UK arable farming: results of a farmer survey.

Farmers are faced with a wide range of pest management (PM) options that can be adopted in isolation or alongside complementary or substitute strategies. This paper presents the results of a survey of UK cereal producers, focusing on the character and diversity of PM strategies currently used by, or available to, farmers. In addition, the survey asked various questions pertaining to agricultural policy participation, attitude towards environmental issues, sources of PM advice and information and the important characteristics of PM technologies. The results indicate that many farmers do make use of a suite of PM techniques, and that their choice of integrated PM (IPM) portfolio appears to be jointly dictated by farm characteristics and government policy. Results also indicate that portfolio choice does affect the number of subsequent insecticide applications per crop. These results help to identify the type of IPM portfolios considered to be adoptable by farmers and highlight the importance of substitution in IPM portfolios. As such, these results will help to direct R&D effort towards the realisation of more sustainable PM approaches and aid the identification of potential portfolio adopters. These findings highlight the opportunity that a revised agri-environmental policy design could generate in terms of enhancing coherent IPM portfolio adoption

The PennState/Toru\'n Center for Astronomy Search for Planets Around Evolved Stars. Basic parameters of a sample of evolved stars

The objective of the PSU/TCfA Search for Planets Around Evolved Stars is to study evolution of planetary systems in the stellar evolution timescale. For such an analysis precise physical parameters of the hosts of the planetary systems are essential. In this paper we present an attempt to obtain basic physical parameters for a sample of evolved stars observed within our survey with the High Resolution Spectrograph of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope.Comment: 2 pages, to appear in "Extreme Solar Systems", 2007 ASP Conference Series, eds. Debra Fischer, Fred Rasio, Steve Thorsett and Alex Wolszcza

Direct and Legacy Effects of Long-Term Elevated CO2 on Fine Root Growth and Plant-Insect Interactions

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations alter leaf physiology, with effects that cascade to communities and ecosystems. Yet, responses over cycles of disturbance and recovery are not well known, because most experiments span limited ecological time. We examined the effects of CO2 on root growth, herbivory and arthropod biodiversity in a woodland from 1996 to 2006, and the legacy of CO2 enrichment on these processes during the year after the CO2 treatment ceased. We used minirhizotrons to study root growth, leaf censuses to study herbivory and pitfall traps to determine the effects of elevated CO2 on arthropod biodiversity. Elevated CO2 increased fine root biomass, but decreased foliar nitrogen and herbivory on all plant species. Insect biodiversity was unchanged in elevated CO2. Legacy effects of elevated CO2 disappeared quickly as fine root growth, foliar nitrogen and herbivory levels recovered in the next growing season following the cessation of elevated CO2. Although the effects of elevated CO2 cascade through plants to herbivores, they do not reach other trophic levels, and biodiversity remains unchanged. The legacy of 10yr of elevated CO2 on plant-herbivore interactions in this system appear to be minimal, indicating that the effects of elevated CO2 may not accumulate over cycles of disturbance and recovery

Multi-factor climate change effects on insect herbivore performance

<p>The impact of climate change on herbivorous insects can have far-reaching<br>consequences for ecosystem processes. However, experiments investigating the<br>combined effects of multiple climate change drivers on herbivorous insects are<br>scarce. We independently manipulated three climate change drivers (CO2,<br>warming, drought) in a Danish heathland ecosystem. The experiment was<br>established in 2005 as a full factorial split-plot with 6 blocks 9 2 levels of<br>CO2 9 2 levels of warming 9 2 levels of drought = 48 plots. In 2008, we<br>exposed 432 larvae (n = 9 per plot) of the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis<br>THOMSON), an important herbivore on heather, to ambient versus elevated<br>drought, temperature, and CO2 (plus all combinations) for 5 weeks. Larval<br>weight and survival were highest under ambient conditions and decreased<br>significantly with the number of climate change drivers. Weight was lowest<br>under the drought treatment, and there was a three-way interaction between<br>time, CO2, and drought. Survival was lowest when drought, warming, and elevated<br>CO2 were combined. Effects of climate change drivers depended on other<br>co-acting factors and were mediated by changes in plant secondary compounds,<br>nitrogen, and water content. Overall, drought was the most important factor<br>for this insect herbivore. Our study shows that weight and survival of insect<br>herbivores may decline under future climate. The complexity of insect herbivore<br>responses increases with the number of combined climate change drivers.</p

Effects of nitrogen deposition on the interaction between an aphid and its host plant

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71607/1/j.1365-2311.2007.00945.x.pd

Diversity and specificity of sap-feeding herbivores and their parasitoids on Australian fig trees

The ecology, diversity, and parasitoid complex of plant–sap feeding insects of the family Homotomidae (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) specialised on fig trees (Ficus) have so far received little research attention. They are ecologically important, however, as occasional outbreaks of the homotomid Mycopsylla fici may cause complete defoliation of its host plant, the Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla). Mycopsylla proxima, the only other species reported from Australia, feeds on F. rubiginosa without any recorded outbreaks. We searched for homotomids and their parasitoids on eight Ficus species on the east coast of Australia, Lord Howe Island (LHI), and in Auckland, New Zealand, and detected them on three Ficus species. Using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, we delimited three Mycopsylla species, including a putative new species on F. watkinsiana. We also characterised six (including one previously described) parasitoid species of the genus Psyllaephagus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) based on congruent morphological characters and molecular data. Each of the homotomid species was highly host specific to a single fig species, whereas parasitoid species varied in host specificity: three host specific to M. fici and three host generalists. Geographic distribution varied among parasitoid species; e.g. one host-specific species was found on both the mainland and LHI, but a second species only on LHI. Our study revealed previously unrecognised diversity in fig homotomids and especially in their parasitoids. The herbivores and parasitoids showed contrasting patterns of host specificity. Interestingly, M. fici, the only outbreak species, had the highest diversity of associated parasitoid species and was the only species with host-specific parasitoids