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Iridopsis panopla Prout (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) is an important lepidopteran defoliator of eucalyptus. I. panopla eggs were collected naturally in a commercial plantation of Eucalyptus urograndis W. Hill (Myrtaceae) in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. After nine days, the natural emergence of Trichogramma pretiosum Riley (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) occurred from I. panopla eggs. Parasitism was evaluated under laboratory and field conditions, this being the first record for eucalyptus in Brazil. Based on the biological characteristics evaluated in the laboratory, I. panopla eggs are suitable for T. pretiosum reproduction. The obtained percentage parasitism, particularly when 72,000 adult females of T. pretiosum per hectare were employed, provide valuable insights regarding the potential of T. pretiosum as an effective biological control agent against I. panopla in eucalyptus plantations. Iridopsis panopla Prout (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) é um importante desfolhador de eucalipto. Ovos de I. panopla foram coletados naturalmente em uma plantação comercial de Eucalyptus urograndis, em Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. Após nove dias, ocorreu a emergência natural de Trichogramma pretiosum Riley (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) nos ovos de I. panopla. O parasitismo foi avaliado em condições de laboratório e campo, sendo este o primeiro registro para eucalipto no Brasil. Com base nas características biológicas avaliadas em laboratório, os ovos de I. panopla são adequados para a reprodução de T. pretiosum. As taxas de parasitismo obtidas, especialmente quando foram empregadas 72.000 fêmeas adultas de T. pretiosum por hectare, fornecem informações valiosas sobre o potencial de T. pretiosum como um agente de controle biológico eficaz contra I. panopla em plantações de eucalipto.

Cloud computing has now evolved as an unavoidable technology in the fields of finance, education, internet business, and nearly all organisations. The cloud resources are practically accessible to cloud users over the internet to accomplish the desired task of the cloud users. The effectiveness and efficacy of cloud computing services depend on the tasks that the cloud users submit and the time taken to complete the task as well. By optimising resource allocation and utilisation, task scheduling is crucial to enhancing the effectiveness and performance of a cloud system. In this context, cloud computing offers a wide range of advantages, such as cost savings, security, flexibility, mobility, quality control, disaster recovery, automatic software upgrades, and sustainability. According to a recent research survey, more and more tech-savvy companies and industry executives are recognize and utilize the advantages of the Cloud computing. Hence, as the number of users of the Cloud increases, so did the need to regulate the resource allocation as well. However, the scheduling of jobs in the cloud necessitates a smart and fast algorithm that can discover the resources that are accessible and schedule the jobs that are requested by different users. Consequently, for better resource allocation and job scheduling, a fast, efficient, tolerable job scheduling algorithm is required. Efficient Hybrid Job Scheduling Optimization (EHJSO) utilises Cuckoo Search Optimization and Grey Wolf Job Optimization (GWO). Due to some cuckoo species’ obligate brood parasitism (laying eggs in other species’ nests), the Cuckoo search optimization approach was developed. Grey wolf optimization (GWO) is a population-oriented AI system inspired by grey wolf social structure and hunting strategies. Make span, computation time, fitness, iteration-based performance, and success rate were utilised to compare previous studies. Experiments show that the recommended method is superior.

Maternal signatures are present in the eggs of some birds, but quantifying interclutch variability within populations remains challenging. Maternal assignment of eggs with distinctive appearances could be used to non-invasively identify renesting females, including hens returning among years, as well as to identify cases of conspecific brood parasitism. We explored whether King Rail ( Rallus elegans ) eggs with shared maternity could be matched based on eggshell pattern. We used NaturePatternMatch (NPM) software to match egg images taken in the field in conjunction with spatial and temporal data on nests. Since we had only a small number of marked breeders, we analyzed similar clutch images from a study of Eurasian Common Moorhens ( Gallinula chloropus chloropus ) with color-banded breeders for which parentage at many nests had been verified genetically to validate the method. We ran 66 King Rail clutches ( n = 338 eggs) and 58 Common Moorhen clutches ( n = 364 eggs) through NPM. We performed non-metric multidimensional scaling and permutational analysis of variance using the best egg match output from NPM. We also explored whether eggs could be grouped by clutch using a combination of egg dimensions and pattern data derived from NPM using linear discriminant analyses. We then scrutinized specific matches returned by NPM for King Rail eggs to determine whether multiple matches between the same clutches might reveal maternity among nests and inform our understanding of female laying behavior. To do this, we ran separate NPM analyses for clutches photographed over several years from two spatially distant parts of the site. With these narrower datasets, we were able to identify four instances where hens likely returned to breed among years, four likely cases of conspecific brood parasitism, and a within-season re-nesting attempt. Thus, the matching output was helpful in identifying congruent egg patterns among clutches when used in conjunction with spatial and temporal data, revealing previously unrecognized site fidelity, within-season movements, and reproductive interference by breeding females. Egg pattern data in combination with nest mapping can be used to inform our understanding of female reproductive effort, success, and longevity in King Rails. These methods may also be applied to other secretive birds and species of conservation concern.

Brood parasitism and nest predation are among the main causes of breeding failures in passerine birds. Brood parasites threaten to the nest, while predatory birds threaten to both the nest and the parents. The objective of this study was to experimentally evaluate whether male and female Chestnut-capped Blackbirds, Chrysomus ruficapillus, recognize and respond to different nest threats during the breeding stages. For this purpose, we presented taxidermy models of a brood parasite, Molothrus bonariensis; a nest predator, Caracara plancus; and a non-predator species, Colaptes campestris, on the nest of C. ruficapillus. Additionally, we filmed nests without the display models to compare them with the nests exposed to taxidermy mounts. We assessed whether parents returned to the nest for each sex based on nest attention, visit frequency, and visit duration through the filming of a total of 44 nests. The parental return to the nest in the experimental trials varied between the sexes and breeding stages. During the incubation stage, males increased their nest attention and frequency of visits in the presence of the non-predator and brood parasite models. Females also increased their frequency of visits in the presence of the non-predator model in relation to the predator and brood parasite models. During the nestling stage, males extended the duration of their visits in the presence of the predator model compared to nests without the display model. Meanwhile, females showed no differences in their behavior during this stage. Overall, the Chestnut-capped Blackbirds parents demonstrated the ability to recognize the presented models and responded differently to different threats at different stages of the breeding cycle. The flexible responses they exhibited may be consistent with the `threat-sensitive predator avoidance´ hypothesis.Significance statementPasserine birds face different threats to themselves and their offspring during the breeding cycle. Recognizing and responding to these threats allows them to assess risk and is critical to their breeding success. Using taxidermy models of predators, brood parasites, and non-parasites, we evaluated whether the male and female Chestnut-capped Blackbirds Chrysomus ruficapillus can recognize and respond to these diverse threats during different stages of breeding. The findings of this study highlight the ability to recognize and respond differently to different threats to their nests during the incubation and nestling stages. These results contribute to our understanding of avian parental care strategies in the face of predation and brood parasitism. Understanding how birds respond to different threats during various reproductive stages can provide valuable insights into their adaptive behaviors and strategies for breeding success.

To curb fitness costs associated with obligate avian brood parasitism, some hosts have evolved to reject foreign eggs in the nest. American robins (Turdus migratorius) are among the few hosts of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) that mostly remove parasitic eggs from their nests. With the parasite’s eggs looking nothing like their own, American robins likely rely most on visual cues when making rejection decisions. However, we still know little about the roles that tactile and olfactory cues play in robin’s or other rejecter hosts’ rejection decisions. Here, we conducted a set of experiments to test for the use of tactile or olfactory cues in egg rejection by robins. For the tactile experiment, we found that robins were more likely to reject rough rather than smooth eggs. However, our tactile model egg design was not able to fully discriminate between tactile and visual sensory modalities. In the olfaction experiment, we did not find a significant effect of egg scent treatment on rejection rates. Accordingly, future studies on egg rejection should attempt to fully distinguish between tactile and visual cues, as well as examine olfactory cues in other egg rejecter host species.

Different factitious hosts were used to mass rear Trichogramma japonicum Ashmead in different parts of the globe because thorough details were lacking in both the laboratory and the field. The objective of this study was to compare, parasitoid, T . japonicum reared in different factitious hosts. Three commonly used factitious host eggs, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), Ephestia kuehniella Zeller and Sitotroga cerealella Olivier were tested under laboratory conditions and then in the field over a yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulus (Walker) of rice. The highest parasitism by T . japonicum was observed on E . kuehniella eggs. The parasitoid’s highest emergence (88.99%) was observed on S . cerealella eggs at 24 h exposure, whereas at 48 h it was on E . kuehniella eggs (94.66%). Trichogramma japonicum females that emerged from E . kuehniella eggs were significantly long-lived. The days of oviposition by hosts and the host species were significant individually, but not their interaction. Higher proportions of flying T . japonicum were observed when reared on E . kuehniella and C . cephalonica eggs. Field results showed that T . japonicum mass-reared on E . kuehniella showed higher parasitism of its natural host, S . incertulus eggs. Hence, by considering these biological characteristics and field results, E . kuehniella could be leveraged for the mass rearing of quality parasitoids of T . japonicum in India, the Asian continent and beyond.

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), by means of sterile male releases of Anastrepha ludens (Loew), coupled with Augmentative Biological Control (ABC), by releasing the parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead), was evaluated in a commercial mango production area for one year. The obtained results were compared with mean fruit fly population values from two previous years without the combined use of both techniques. The treatments were: SIT + ABC, SIT, ABC, and Control, and each treatment was established in blocks of 5000 Ha separated by distances of 5–10 km. The evaluations were carried out through fruit sampling to assess percent parasitism and trapping of adult flies to obtain Flies per Trap per Day (FTD) values. The mean percentage of parasitism increased from 0.59% in the control treatment to 19.38% in the block with ABC. The FTD values decreased from ~0.129 and ~0.012 in the control block to 0.0021 in the block with SIT and ABC, representing a 98% suppression. The difference between the two periods in the control block was not significant. We conclude that the integration of both techniques resulted in an additive suppression of the pest population, supporting the use of both control techniques in an area-wide pest management context.

Background Mymaridae is an ancient insect group and is a basal lineage of the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Species of Mymaridae have great potential for biological control. Anagrus nilaparvatae , a representative species of Mymaridae, is ideal for controlling rice planthopper due to its high rate of parasitism and ability to find hosts efficiently in paddy ridges and fields. Results Using both PacBio single-molecule real-time and Illumina sequencing, we sequenced and assembled the whole genome of A. nilaparvatae , a first for the family Mymaridae. The assembly consists of 394 scaffolds, totaling 488.8 Mb. The assembly is of high continuity and completeness, indicated by the N50 value of 25.4 Mb and 98.2% mapping rate of Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs. In total, 16,894 protein-coding genes in the genome were annotated. A phylogenomic tree constructed for A. nilaparvatae and other 12 species of Hymenoptera confirmed that the family Mymaridae is sister to all remaining chalcidoids. The divergence time between A. nilaparvatae and the other seven Chalcidoidea species was dated at ~ 126.9 Mya. Chemoreceptor and mechanoreceptor genes are important in explaining parasitic behavior. We identified 17 odorant binding proteins, 11 chemosensory proteins, four Niemann-Pick type C2 proteins, 88 olfactory receptors, 12 gustatory receptors, 22 ionotropic receptors and 13 sensory neuron membrane proteins in the genome of A. nilaparvatae , which are associated with the chemosensory functions. Strikingly, there is only one pickpocket receptors and nine transient receptor potential genes in the genome that have a mechanosensory function. Conclusions We obtained a high-quality genome assembly for A. nilaparvatae using PacBio single-molecule real-time sequencing, which provides phylogenomic insights for its evolutionary history. The small numbers of chemo- and mechanosensory genes in A. nilaparvatae indicate the species-specific host detection and oviposition behavior of A. nilaparvatae might be regulated by relatively simple molecular pathways.

Cocoa fruit rot diseases pose a major threat to global cocoa plantations. The fungus Trichoderma spp. is a potential biocontrol agent against cocoa fruit rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora . This study evaluated Trichoderma spp. isolates sourced from Ambon, Maluku, for biocontrol efficacy. Methodologies employed include both in vitro and in vivo approaches. In vitro evaluations involve antagonism assays which is parasitism, growth inhibition measurements, spore density assessments, and spore viability tests. In vivo experiments gauge the effectiveness of Trichoderma spp. applied as a secondary metabolite solution on infected cocoa fruits. PCR results identified two Trichoderma spp. species: T. viridae 1, T. asperellum 1, and T. asperellum 2. Findings indicated that antagonist fungal colonies completely covered the petri dish since 7 days incubation, with an antagonism percentage of 79.21%, particularly for code T. asperellum 3. Spore density varies among isolates, with T. viridae 1 exhibiting the highest spore density. In vivo results demonstrated that T. asperellum secondary metabolites reduced cocoa fruit rot by 77.33%, with an optimal concentration of 8 ml/l. The study underscores the potential of T. viridae and T. asperellum isolates from Ambon Island, Maluku as effective biocontrol agents against cocoa fruit rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora .

Essential oils and their components are generally known for their acaricidal effects and are used as an alternative to control the population of the Varroa destructor instead of synthetic acaricides. However, for many essential oils, the exact acaricidal effect against Varroa mites, as well as the effect against honey bees, is not known. In this study, 30 different essential oils were screened by using a glass-vial residual bioassay. Essential oils showing varroacidal efficacy > 70% were tested by the complete exposure assay. A total of five bees and five mites were placed in the Petri dishes in five replications for each concentration of essential oil. Mite and bee mortality rates were assessed after 4, 24, 48, and 72 h. The LC50 values and selectivity ratio (SR) were calculated. For essential oils with the best selectivity ratio, their main components were detected and quantified by GC-MS/MS. The results suggest that the most suitable oils are peppermint and manuka (SR > 9), followed by oregano, litsea (SR > 5), carrot, and cinnamon (SR > 4). Additionally, these oils showed a trend of the increased value of selective ratio over time. All these oils seem to be better than thymol (SR < 3.2), which is commonly used in beekeeping practice. However, the possible use of these essential oils has yet to be verified in beekeeping practice.