1. Plant quality (bottom-up effects) and natural enemies (top-down effects) affect herbivore performance. Furthermore, plant quality can also influence the impact of natural enemies. 2. Lower plant quality through reduced irrigation increased the abundance of the cryptic species from the Bemisia tabaci complex [hereafter B. tabaci Middle East Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1)], but not its natural enemies on cotton. It was therefore predicted that lower plant quality would diminish the impact of natural enemies in regulating this herbivore. 3. Over three cotton seasons, plant quality was manipulated via differential irrigation and natural enemy abundance with insecticides. Life tables were used to evaluate the impact of these factors on mortality of immature B. tabaci (MEAM1) over nine generations. 4. Mortality of B. tabaci (MEAM1) was consistently affected by natural enemies but not by plant quality. This pattern was driven by high levels of sucking predation, which was the primary (key) factor associated with changes in immature mortality across all irrigation and natural enemy treatments. Dislodgement (chewing predation and weather) and parasitism contributed as key factors in some cases. Analyses also showed that elimination of sucking predation and dislodgement would have the greatest effect on overall mortality. 5. The top-down effects of natural enemies had dominant effects on populations of B. tabaci (MEAM1) relative to the bottom-up effects of plant quality. Effects were primarily due to native generalist arthropod predators and not more host-specific aphelinid parasitoids. The findings of this study demonstrate the important role of arthropod predators in population suppression and validate the importance of conservation biological control in this system for effective pest control.

This study quantifies the rate of bed bug nymphal development, mortality, fecundity and survivorship during starvation for wild caught resistant populations. I then compare some of these characteristics with two susceptible strains. I found that resistant populations develop faster and exhibit less mortality per life stage than susceptible populations. However, there were no significant differences in the total number of eggs produced by the resistant females from the field strains during the 13 feedings/oviposistion cycles (P = 0.106). On average, resistant females from the field strains produced 0.74 eggs per day. Susceptible strains survived a significantly longer time without feeding (89.2 d and 81.4 d) than the resistant strains (RR, ER). The mean duration of adult life (from the day the female becomes an adult until the day she dies) for (RR) strains was 118.7 d ° 11.8 SE. The intrinsic rate of increase r or average daily output of daughter eggs by female was 0.42. The net reproductive rate Rₒ, indicated that one live female egg would, on the average, be replaced by approximately 35 females. Resistant and susceptible populations were found to be different in terms of development, survivorship, and fecundity. The differences between susceptible and resistant strains could be explained by a trade-off between the alleles that confer resistance and the fitness in the population. When compare the stable age distribution of a pyrethroid susceptible strain (HS) and a resistant strain (RR) there were not significant differences (?°= 9.0066, df = 6, P = 0.1732) in the stable age distribution, basically both strains were dominated by the egg stage. No significant difference was found in the expected reproductive contribution of the various life stages to future population size between the two strains (?°= 1.5458, df = 6, P = 0.9564). Despite this, the reproductive contributions of life stages other than eggs were generally higher for the HS strain than for the RR strain. For both strains changes in P? for the adult stage are expected to have the greatest impact on?? compared with changes in P? for the other life stages. The key to the reduction of the populations of bed bugs lies with the reduction of survival of the adults. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

The aim of this diploma thesis is describe the most common methods of financing pension plans, focusing on some of the methods of fund financing pension plans. To describe the individual methods, their numerical illustration and allow comparison, it is necessary to dispose of necessary instruments. Therefore in the thesis there are constructed the cohort life tables for the Czech Republic. The thesis also deals with the modelling life annuities in continuous time, in particular, with the shape of im- mediate pension anuity factor for Gompertz law of mortality. Namely, this factor is one of the parameters entering the calculation of the individual methods of fund fi- nancing for pension plans.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-07-01Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:42:57Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 correa_lrb_dr_jabo.pdf: 1543048 bytes, checksum: a8f8dbb9edf2e1247f77433aae591f2e (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Objetivou-se avaliar aspectos biológicos de Aphis gossypii em três cultivares de algodoeiro colorido, estudar a biologia e a interação dos predadores Harmonia axyridis e Eriopis connexa alimentados com o pulgão A. gossypii criado nas cultivares, avaliar a densidade de tricomas e glândulas de gossipol das folhas das cultivares e elaborar tabelas de vida de A. gossypii, H. axyridis e E. connexa. As cultivares de algodoeiro colorido utilizadas foram: BRS Rubi, BRS Safira e BRS Verde (Gossypium hirsutum L.r. latifolium Hutch., herbáceo). Os ensaios foram conduzidos em câmara climatizada regulada a 25 ± 2ºC, UR de 70 ± 10% e fotofase de 12 horas. Os substratos alimentares avaliados afetaram a fase ninfal de A. gossypii, sendo que na cultivar BRS Verde verificou-se o menor tempo de duração e na BRS Safira ocorreu o oposto. Em BRS Verde, cultivar com menor densidade de tricomas, observou-se elevada produção de ninfas e a maior taxa líquida de reprodução (R0) por A. gossypii. Os coccinelídeos E. connexa e H. axyridis apresentaram maior número de ovos com elevada viabilidade quando alimentados com pulgões oriundos de BRS Safira, cultivar com baixa densidade de glândulas de gossipol nas folhas. A maior taxa de canibalismo entre as larvas de E. connexa e H. axyridis foi obtida em BRS Verde. Não foi observada predação das larvas de H. axyridis por E. connexa em nenhum dos tratamentos. Portanto, a cultivar BRS Verde favorece os maiores padrões de fecundidade de A. gossypii. BRS Safira proporciona elevada fecundidade de E. connexa e H. axyridis. O coccinelídeo H. axyridis prevalece como predador intraguilda na relação com E. connexa / The aim was to evaluate biological aspects of Aphis gossypii in three colored cotton cultivars, to study the biology and interaction of the predator Harmonia axyridis and Eriopis connexa fed with the aphid A. gossypii reared on the cultivars, evaluate the density of trichomes and gossypol glands in leaves of cultivars and prepare life tables of A. gossypii, H. axyridis and E. connexa. The following colored cotton cultivars were used: BRS Rubi, BRS Safira and BRS Verde (Gossypium hirsutum latifolium Hutch Lr., herbaceous). The tests were conducted in climatized chamber at 25±2 ºC, RH 70± 10% and photophase of 12 hours. The feed substrates evaluated affected the nymphal stage of A. gossypii, and in BRS Verde observed the lowest duration and BRS Safira was the opposite. In BRS Verde with lowest density of trichomes observed high production of nymphs and the highest net reproductive rate (R0) by A. gossypii. The coccinellids E. connexa and H. axyridis had higher numbers of eggs with high viability when fed with aphids from BRS Safira, gossypol glands low density cultivar. The highest rate of cannibalism among larvae of E. connexa and H. axyridis was observed in BRS Verde. It was not observed predation on larvae of H. axyridis by E. connexa in all treatments. Therefore, BRS Safira cultivar supports the hightest fertility patterns of A. gossypii. The BRS Safira provides the high fecundity of E. connexa and H. axyridis. The coccinellid H. axyridis acts as intraguild predator in relation with E. connexa

Orientador: Francisco Jorge Cividanes / Banca: Brigida de Souza / Banca: Valter Arthur / Banca: Nilza Maria Martinelli / Banca: Ricardo Antonio Polanczyk / Resumo: Objetivou-se avaliar aspectos biológicos de Aphis gossypii em três cultivares de algodoeiro colorido, estudar a biologia e a interação dos predadores Harmonia axyridis e Eriopis connexa alimentados com o pulgão A. gossypii criado nas cultivares, avaliar a densidade de tricomas e glândulas de gossipol das folhas das cultivares e elaborar tabelas de vida de A. gossypii, H. axyridis e E. connexa. As cultivares de algodoeiro colorido utilizadas foram: BRS Rubi, BRS Safira e BRS Verde (Gossypium hirsutum L.r. latifolium Hutch., herbáceo). Os ensaios foram conduzidos em câmara climatizada regulada a 25 ± 2ºC, UR de 70 ± 10% e fotofase de 12 horas. Os substratos alimentares avaliados afetaram a fase ninfal de A. gossypii, sendo que na cultivar BRS Verde verificou-se o menor tempo de duração e na BRS Safira ocorreu o oposto. Em BRS Verde, cultivar com menor densidade de tricomas, observou-se elevada produção de ninfas e a maior taxa líquida de reprodução (R0) por A. gossypii. Os coccinelídeos E. connexa e H. axyridis apresentaram maior número de ovos com elevada viabilidade quando alimentados com pulgões oriundos de BRS Safira, cultivar com baixa densidade de glândulas de gossipol nas folhas. A maior taxa de canibalismo entre as larvas de E. connexa e H. axyridis foi obtida em BRS Verde. Não foi observada predação das larvas de H. axyridis por E. connexa em nenhum dos tratamentos. Portanto, a cultivar BRS Verde favorece os maiores padrões de fecundidade de A. gossypii. BRS Safira proporciona elevada fecundidade de E. connexa e H. axyridis. O coccinelídeo H. axyridis prevalece como predador intraguilda na relação com E. connexa / Abstract: The aim was to evaluate biological aspects of Aphis gossypii in three colored cotton cultivars, to study the biology and interaction of the predator Harmonia axyridis and Eriopis connexa fed with the aphid A. gossypii reared on the cultivars, evaluate the density of trichomes and gossypol glands in leaves of cultivars and prepare life tables of A. gossypii, H. axyridis and E. connexa. The following colored cotton cultivars were used: BRS Rubi, BRS Safira and BRS Verde (Gossypium hirsutum latifolium Hutch Lr., herbaceous). The tests were conducted in climatized chamber at 25±2 ºC, RH 70± 10% and photophase of 12 hours. The feed substrates evaluated affected the nymphal stage of A. gossypii, and in BRS Verde observed the lowest duration and BRS Safira was the opposite. In BRS Verde with lowest density of trichomes observed high production of nymphs and the highest net reproductive rate (R0) by A. gossypii. The coccinellids E. connexa and H. axyridis had higher numbers of eggs with high viability when fed with aphids from BRS Safira, gossypol glands low density cultivar. The highest rate of cannibalism among larvae of E. connexa and H. axyridis was observed in BRS Verde. It was not observed predation on larvae of H. axyridis by E. connexa in all treatments. Therefore, BRS Safira cultivar supports the hightest fertility patterns of A. gossypii. The BRS Safira provides the high fecundity of E. connexa and H. axyridis. The coccinellid H. axyridis acts as intraguild predator in relation with E. connexa / Doutor

Diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is a serious pest of crucifer vegetables (Brassica sp.) worldwide because of a lack of effective natural enemies in certain regions and because of insecticide resistance. In 2003, laboratory and field studies were initiated in Virginia to better understand P. xylostella, its primary natural enemies, and their susceptibilities to insecticides in order to develop an economically and environmentally sound integrated pest management program for collards in the state. Ecological life table studies of P. xylostella immature stages on collards located on the Eastern Shore and on Kentland Farm, near Blacksburg at the New River Valley, VA revealed that most (98 to 99%) of P. xylostella died from natural causes. Mortality factors varied between the two regions. Neonates, small larvae, and large larvae disappearing were major mortality factors. Rainfall, predation, and dispersal probably contributed the most to this mortality. Egg mortality played a bigger role at the New River Valley compared with the Eastern Shore. Three parasitoid species were found that contributed to the mortality of P. xylostella: Diadegma insulare (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae); Oomyzus sokolowskii (Kurdjumov) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae); and Microplitis plutellae (Muesebeck) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Additional studies conducted in the laboratory using leaf-dip bioassays revealed that P. xylostella collected from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, showed significant tolerance levels to esfenvalerate, acetamiprid, methomyl, methoxyfenozide, indoxacarb, and acephate compared with a susceptible strain of P. xylostella. The highest tolerance ratio (1,876 fold) was to esfenvalerate, a commonly-used pyrethroid. All of the insecticides tested in this study were quite toxic to the adult stage of the parasitoids, D. insulare and O. sokolowskii. The insect growth regulator, methoxyfenozide was considerably less toxic than other insecticides such as esfenvalerate, methomyl, acephate, spinosad, indoxacarb, and emamectin benzoate at field-rate and 1% of field-rate concentrations. The aforementioned insecticides as well as some other insecticides were evaluated several times in the field for efficacy against P. xylostella as well as other pests of collards. The most efficacious insecticides over five field experiments included acephate, emamectin benzoate, esfenvalerate, methomyl, methoxyfenozide, novaluron, indoxacarb, and spinosad. These insecticides were followed in relative efficacy by Bt kurstaki, acetamiprid, and azadirachtin, which provided relatively inconsistent control of lepidopteran larvae over the experiments. Effective insecticide options in collards that are less toxic to natural enemies and that can fit well into integrated pest management programs include indoxacarb, spinosad, novaluron, emamectin benzoate, methoxyfenozide, and Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. / Ph. D.

The mortality is historically one of the most important demographic indicator and definitely reflects the maturity of each country. The objective of this diploma thesis is the comparison of mortality rates in analyzed countries around the world over time and among each other using the principle component analysis that allows assessing data different way. The big advantage of this method is minimal loss of information and quite understandable interpretation of mortality in each country. This thesis offers several interesting graphical outputs, that for example confirm higher mortality rate in Eastern European countries compared to Western European countries and show that Czech republic is country where mortality has fallen most in context of post-communist countries between 1990 and 2010. Source of the data is Human Mortality Database and all data were processed in statistical tool SPSS.

The main aim of this thesis is to analyse the development of the processes of family formation and dissolution in the Czech Republic between 1993 and 2008 using multistate demography. By this method, we analyze probability of transition between individual marriage states and events, which characterise these transitions. The first part of the analysis deals with the population as a whole, while the second part analyses only the part of population in fertile ages. LIPRO program was used to create a model of marital status based on data for the Czech Republic as well as for producing a forecast of population divided by marital status for the years of 2019?2023. Other parts of this thesis support the main aim of the thesis. The level of marriage and divorce rate were analysed between 1993 and 2008 as well as potential factors that could influence the level of above mentioned processes. Rising number of cohabitations could be one of those factors and therefore a special attention is paid to the development of this type of coexistence. Socioeconomic development and family and social policy are mentioned as well, because they could also have significant impact on the processes of formation and dissolution of families. The above mentioned factors and their relationship to the marriage rate are analysed using the...

Ce mémoire présente, dans une première partie, une étude détaillée de la mortalité adulte des Canadiens-français nés entre 1620 et 1749. Des résultats inédits sont présentés sous forme de tables de mortalité abrégées avec entrées échelonnées. La comparaison de celles-ci permet de décrire les différences de comportement observées entre les hommes et les femmes, les populations de régions urbaines et rurales ainsi que trois groupes de générations s’étant succédé au cours de la période étudiée. Dans une deuxième partie, une étude de cas visant à confirmer l’influence du caractère familial sur la longévité est présentée. Une famille se distinguant par les durées de vie exceptionnellement longues de plusieurs de ses membres est comparée à une famille fictive de référence, représentative de la population moyenne de l’époque. Les résultats opposant ces deux familles consistent en des âges moyens au décès et des proportions de survivants à différents âges. Cette deuxième étude s’inscrit dans le prolongement des recherches effectuées avec les ascendances de Jeanne Calment et Marie-Louise Meilleur. Les informations tirées des registres paroissiaux du Québec ancien et consolidées informatiquement par le Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) dans une base de données appelée Registre de la population du Québec ancien (RPQA) constituent la source exploitée pour la réalisation des deux parties du mémoire. / This thesis presents, in the first part, a detailed study of adult mortality of French-Canadians born between 1620 and 1749. New time published results are presented in the form of abridged life tables with staggered entries. The life tables are compared to ascertain behavioural differences between men and women, between residents of urban and rural regions and across three generations during the period studied. In the second part, the thesis presents a case study conducted to test the influence of inheritance on human longevity. A family distinguished by the exceptional longevity of several of its members is compared to a reference fictional family representative of the average population of the time. Evidence provided on these two families consists of mean ages at death and proportions of survivors at different ages. This case study builds on research conducted with the ancestry of Jeanne Calment and Marie Louise Meilleur. Information drawn from the parish registers of old Quebec computerized by the Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) in a database called Registre de la population du Québec ancien (RPQA) is the primary source used for the life tables and case study.

[pt] O estudo aborda as diversas metodologias de construção de tábuas biométricas: desde as técnicas de graduação tradicionalmente utilizadas para os casos em que há grande quantidade de dados, até um método específico de aplicação para o caso de poucos dados. Inclui uma discussão sobre as formas de construção de tábuas seletas, em particular de sobrevivência de inválidos. A população de servidores públicos estatutários da administração direta do município do Rio de Janeiro é utilizada para a graduação de tábuas de sobrevivência de válidos e de inválidos, enquanto que a dos aposentados urbanos por invalidez do INSS serve de base para a tábua seleta de sobrevivência de inválidos. / [en] This study represents an approach to the main methods of life tables construction. It shows traditional graduation techniques for cases including high exposure data, as well a methodology for few data. Further more, this study generates a discussion about select life tables construction, in particular disability mortality tables. Data set from Rio de Janeiro officials population were used for mortality and disability mortality tables construction. In addition, a select disability mortality table was constructed based on the INSS urban disability retired population.