No description available.

No description available.

2 pp. / This publication provides information and describes Cooley spruce galls in Northern Arizona. Douglas-fir and spruce are alternate hosts for these galls. The life cycle of galls and their management/control methods are described in detail here.

2 pp. / This publication provides information and describes Oystershell Scale in Northern Arizona. The feeding habits, life cycle of scales and their management/control methods are described in detail here.

2 pp. / This publication provides information and describes tent caterpillars in Northern Arizona. The feeding habits, life cycle of scales and their management/control methods are described in detail here.

Components of host plant affiliation for two, small, blue butterflies were examined and compared. The two butterflies, Glaucopsyche lygdamus and Plebijus icariodes (Lycaenidae), are superficially quite similar but differ in host range. Oviposition preferences were determined for each butterfly species by following individual butterflies in the field and recording butterfly behavior, host plant availability and host plant characteristics. Where preferences for one host species or one plant part over another were found, potential explanations were pursued by assessing and comparing larval performance on those plant species and parts in question. Larval performances were measured in terms of survival, growth, and ant attendance in the field, and survival, growth, and pupal mass in the laboratory. All foods were also analyzed for alkaloid content, and larvae were raised on plants known to differ in alkaloid content. Individuals of both butterfly species preferred to oviposit on those host species with which they had had recent experience; nevertheless, individual butterflies of both species frequently oviposited on multiple host species during the course of a single follow bout. For G. lygdamus the availability of flower buds was critical for ovipositing adults and feeding larvae. Flower buds of any one host species were unpredictable, however, and G. lygdamus consequently utilized different host species at different times. This observation predicted a positive relationship between butterfly population density and host species diversity. This prediction was tested and supported by two large-scale surveys of hostplant patches. P. icariodes differed from G. lygdamus in that both ovipositing adults and feeding larvae preferred old leaves to flower buds. The two species also differed in diapause stage, growth rates and reaction to alkaloids. Results predicted a relationship between diapause stage, oviposition site on the plant, and host range. The prediction was tested and upheld by a general survey of temperate lycaenid butterflies. The relationship was significant even when phylogenetic relationships were included in the analysis, and diapause stage was suggested as the characteristic evolutionarily most constrained.

The nervous system copes with variability in the external and internal environment by using neuromodulators to adjust the efficacy of neural circuits. The role of serotonin (5HT) as a neuromodulator of olfactory processing in the antennal lobe (AL) of Manduca sexta was examined. Serotonin has been hypothesized as a circadian modulator of sensitivity of AL neurons, so the coding of odor concentration in the AL was first examined without the manipulation of 5HT levels. Reponses of the AL to different concentrations of odors were recorded using multi-electrode extracellular arrays. As odor concentration increased, more AL units responded and the AL was best able to discriminate odors at high concentrations, a finding that was replicated in matched behavioral assays. Multi-electrode recordings were then used to examine the effects of 5HT on responses to stimuli that varied in chemical structure and concentration. Serotonin enhanced AL unit responses by increasing response duration and firing rate, which in turn increased the amount of coincident firing between units. Due to the increased activation of units as concentration increased, and the greater effect of 5HT on stronger responses, serotonin had the greatest effect on overall ensemble activation at higher odor concentrations. Additionally, response thresholds shifted to lower odor concentrations for some units, suggesting that 5HT increases the sensitivity of AL units. Serotonin enhanced AL discrimination of single odors at different concentrations and structurally dissimilar odors at a single concentration. In order to predict which insects share a similar role for 5HT in the AL, immunocytochemistry was used to compare the ALs of different insects. All holometabolous insects (except the Euhymenoptera) had 5HT-immunoreactive AL neurons that were morphologically similar to those of M. sexta. These combined studies implicate 5HT as a modulator of sensitivity and efficacy in the AL of M. sexta and suggest that 5HT may play this role for most of the Holometabola. This proposed role of 5HT in the AL of the Holometabola is reminiscent of the hypothesized involvement of serotonergic neurons from the Raphe nucleus in vertebrates that seem to gate activity in the olfactory bulb in the context of behavioral arousal.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.