Coexistence ofBacillus thuringiensis(Bt)-transgenic and conventional rice affects insect abundance and plant fitness in fields

Herbicide resistance is the ultimate evidence of the extraordinary capacity of weeds to evolve under stressful conditions. Despite the extraordinary plant fitness advantage endowed by herbicide resistance mutations in agroecosystems under herbicide selection, resistance mutations are predicted to exhibit an adaptation cost (i.e., fitness cost), relative to the susceptible wild-type, in herbicide untreated conditions. Fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations are not universal and their expression depends on the particular mutation, genetic background, dominance of the fitness cost, and environmental conditions. The detrimental effects of herbicide resistance mutations on plant fitness may arise as a direct impact on fitness-related traits and/or coevolution with changes in other life history traits that ultimately may lead to fitness costs under particular ecological conditions. This brings the idea that a “lower adaptive value” of herbicide resistance mutations represents an opportunity for the design of resistance management practices that could minimize the evolution of herbicide resistance. It is evident that the challenge for weed management practices aiming to control, minimize, or even reverse the frequency of resistance mutations in the agricultural landscape is to “create” those agroecological conditions that could expose, exploit, and exacerbate those life history and/or fitness traits affecting the evolution of herbicide resistance mutations. Ideally, resistance management should implement a wide range of cultural practices leading to environmentally mediated fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations.

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Interactions amongHeliothis virescens larvae, cotton condensed tannin and the CryIA(c) ?-endotoxin ofBacillus thuringiensis

Journal of Chemical Ecology ◽

10.1007/bf00980685 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 19 (11) ◽

pp. 2485-2499 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

A. Navon ◽

J. D. Hare ◽

B. A. Federici

Keyword(s):

Condensed Tannin ◽

Ofbacillus Thuringiensis

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Identifying ‘useful’ fitness models: balancing the benefits of added complexity with realistic data requirements in models of individual plant fitness

The American Naturalist ◽

10.1086/713082 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Trace E. Martyn ◽

Daniel B. Stouffer ◽

Oscar Godoy ◽

Ignasi Bartomeus ◽

Abigail Pastore ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Plant ◽

Plant Fitness ◽

Data Requirements ◽

Realistic Data

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Social calls influence the foraging behavior in wild big-footed myotis

Frontiers in Zoology ◽

10.1186/s12983-020-00384-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dongge Guo ◽

Jianan Ding ◽

Heng Liu ◽

Lin Zhou ◽

Jiang Feng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Current Knowledge ◽

Light Trapping ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Food Competition ◽

Insectivorous Bats ◽

Insect Abundance ◽

Social Calls ◽

Abundance And Diversity ◽

Open Question ◽

Free Ranging

Abstract Background Why a variety of social animals emit foraging-associated calls during group foraging remains an open question. These vocalizations may be used to recruit conspecifics to food patches (i.e. food advertisement hypothesis) or defend food resources against competitors (food defence hypothesis), presumably depending on food availability. Insectivorous bats rely heavily on vocalizations for navigation, foraging, and social interactions. In this study, we used free-ranging big-footed myotis (Myotis macrodactylus Temminck, 1840) to test whether social calls produced in a foraging context serve to advertise food patches or to ward off food competitors. Using a combination of acoustic recordings, playback experiments with adult females and dietary monitoring (light trapping and DNA metabarcoding techniques), we investigated the relationship between insect availability and social vocalizations in foraging bats. Results The big-footed myotis uttered low-frequency social calls composed of 7 syllable types during foraging interactions. Although the dietary composition of bats varied across different sampling periods, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Trichoptera were the most common prey consumed. The number of social vocalizations was primarily predicted by insect abundance, insect species composition, and echolocation vocalizations from conspecifics. The number of conspecific echolocation pulses tended to decrease following the emission of most social calls. Feeding bats consistently decreased foraging attempts and food consumption during playbacks of social calls with distinctive structures compared to control trials. The duration of flight decreased 1.29–1.96 fold in the presence of social calls versus controls. Conclusions These results support the food defence hypothesis, suggesting that foraging bats employ social calls to engage in intraspecific food competition. This study provides correlative evidence for the role of insect abundance and diversity in influencing the emission of social calls in insectivorous bats. Our findings add to the current knowledge of the function of social calls in echolocating bats.

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Soybean (Glycine max) Is Able to Absorb, Metabolize and Accumulate Fenbendazole in All Organs Including Beans

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22136647 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (13) ◽

pp. 6647

Author(s):

Radka Podlipná ◽

Martina Navrátilová ◽

Lucie Raisová Stuchlíková ◽

Kateřina Moťková ◽

Lenka Langhansová ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antioxidant Enzymes ◽

Glycine Max ◽

Organic Compounds ◽

Animal Feed ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Plant Metabolism ◽

Plant Fitness ◽

Human Food ◽

Food Consumed

Although manure is an important source of minerals and organic compounds it represents a certain risk of spreading the veterinary drugs in the farmland and their permeation to human food. We tested the uptake of the anthelmintic drug fenbendazole (FBZ) by soybean, a common crop plant, from the soil and its biotransformation and accumulation in different soybean organs, including beans. Soybeans were cultivated in vitro or grown in a greenhouse in pots. FBZ was extensively metabolized in roots of in vitro seedlings, where sixteen metabolites were identified, and less in leaves, where only two metabolites were found. The soybeans in greenhouse absorbed FBZ by roots and translocated it to the leaves, pods, and beans. In roots, leaves, and pods two metabolites were identified. In beans, FBZ and one metabolite was found. FBZ exposure did not affect the plant fitness or yield, but reduced activities of some antioxidant enzymes and isoflavonoids content in the beans. In conclusion, manure or biosolids containing FBZ and its metabolites represent a significant risk of these pharmaceuticals entering food consumed by humans or animal feed. In addition, the presence of these drugs in plants can affect plant metabolism, including the production of isoflavonoids.

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