The Chambery Tragedy (June 1945): the Causes and Historical Context of the Attack on the Spaniards in France

On June 15, 1945, a mass attack took place in the French city of Chambery on a train carrying Spaniards traveling from Germany to their homeland. As a result, more than a hundred people were killed and injured. The French authorities presented this incident as a spontaneous wave of popular indignation against the soldiers of the Spanish “Blue Division”, who fought as part of the Nazi Wehrmacht. However, this version is unlikely (this division was disbanded and withdrawn long ago). There are many indications that this action was carried out with the sanction of the French authorities. According to some researchers, such reprisals, not uncommon for liberated France, demonstrating “national hatred of fascism”, were intended — not least оf all — to change the skeptical attitude of the victorious powers to France. This was especially relevant on the eve of the Potsdam Conference. The events in Chambery can also be seen as an attempt to “atone” for the Spanish Republicans for the cruel treatment of refugees from a neighboring country after the end of the Spanish Civil War of 1936—1939.

Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror)

Honey bees (genus Apis) are well known for the impressive suite of nest defenses they have evolved to protect their abundant stockpiles of food and the large colonies they sustain. In Asia, honey bees have evolved under tremendous predatory pressure from social wasps in the genus Vespa, the most formidable of which are the giant hornets that attack colonies in groups, kill adult defenders, and prey on brood. We document for the first time an extraordinary collective defense used by Apis cerana against the giant hornet Vespa soror. In response to attack by V. soror, A. cerana workers foraged for and applied spots of animal feces around their nest entrances. Fecal spotting increased after colonies were exposed either to naturally occurring attacks or to chemicals that scout hornets use to target colonies for mass attack. Spotting continued for days after attacks ceased and occurred in response to V. soror, which frequently landed at and chewed on entrances to breach nests, but not Vespa velutina, a smaller hornet that rarely landed at entrances. Moderate to heavy fecal spotting suppressed attempts by V. soror to penetrate nests by lowering the incidence of multiple-hornet attacks and substantially reducing the likelihood of them approaching and chewing on entrances. We argue that A. cerana forages for animal feces because it has properties that repel this deadly predator from nest entrances, providing the first report of tool use by honey bees and the first evidence that they forage for solids that are not derived from plants. Our study describes a remarkable weapon in the already sophisticated portfolio of defenses that honey bees have evolved in response to the predatory threats they face. It also highlights the strong selective pressure honey bees will encounter if giant hornets, recently detected in western North America, become established.

Disruption of coniferophagous bark beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) mass attack using angiosperm nonhost volatiles: from concept to operational use

Although the use of nonhost plants intercropped among host crops has been a standard agricultural practice for reducing insect herbivory for millennia, the use of nonhost signals to deter forest pests is much more recent, having been developed over the past several decades. Early exploratory studies with synthetic nonhost volatile semiochemicals led to targeted electrophysiological and trapping experiments on a variety of bark and ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) across three continents. This work disclosed a suite of antennally and behaviourally active nonhost volatiles, which are detected in common across a range of coniferophagous bark beetles. It also established the fact that dispersing bark and ambrosia beetles detect nonhost signals while in flight and avoid nonhost trees without necessarily landing on them. Later work showed that groups of synthetic nonhost volatiles, sometimes combined with insect-derived antiaggregants, are effective in protecting individual trees and forest stands. Further work in this system may lead to the development of a variety of new and useful tactics for use in various integrated pest management strategies.

Blood-sucking midges ecology in pastures and cattle farms of the Tyumen Region

The article presents materials on the seasonal dynamics of the population of gnat on pasture and farm, shows the feasibility of protecting cattle from these insects both when grazing, and zero grazing, comparative harmfulness in conditional units, and presumed loss of animal productivity. The purpose of the study is to determine the parasitological situation on insects of the gnat complex, the terms of protection depending on the technology of cattle management. One of the topical tasks for the successful development of livestock in the Tyumen region is to eliminate the harm caused by blood-sucking dipterous insects as hematophages and vectors pathogens of a number of dangerous diseases for humans and animals. When zero grazing indoor there is a mass attack of mosquitoes and black gnats on animals from mid-June to the middle of the first decade of July. The main gnat component in the specified time interval is mosquitoes, which have averaged 2.1 cu. The malicious population of gnat as a whole during this period amounted to 2.216 cu, and the estimated loss of productivity of animals — 8.2%.

Fungi Associated with Damage Observed on Branches of Juglans nigra in Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee

Branch and stem cankers caused by Geosmithia morbida associated with mass attack by its primary insect vector (Pityophthorus juglandis) result in thousand cankers disease (TCD) on Juglans and Pterocarya species. Because other fungi and insects can cause visible damage to Juglans nigra, a baseline assessment was performed to document damage types present and to characterize fungi associated with each type. Two branches were collected from trees with visually healthy crowns in TCD-free locations (Indiana and Missouri) and two branches from trees with and without crown symptoms characteristic of TCD within the disease range in Tennessee. In most cases, one of the two branches was girdled at the base 3 to 4 months prior to harvest. Outer bark was peeled from branch subsamples, observed damage characterized, and isolation of fungi from each damage type attempted. Three known pathogens of J. nigra were obtained from different damage types: G. morbida, in Tennessee only; Botryosphaeria dothidea, in Indiana and Tennessee; and Fusarium solani (= members of F. solani species complex), in all three states. The latter two fungi may exacerbate branch dieback and mortality of TCD-affected trees. These results will be of value to plant health specialists monitoring J. nigra in the field and laboratory diagnosticians processing survey samples.

Faunal and Ecological Features of Blood-Sucking Arthropods of the Family Ixodidae in Biocenoses of the Lower Volga Region

Ecological and faunal changes caused by physical and geographical changes, climatic, anthropogenic impacts, lead to an increase in the number and spread of Ixodes mites. The above mentioned factors have a significant impact on the formation of the fauna of bloodsucking arthropods in bio and agrocenoses, as well as in settlements. The study of the mechanisms that impact on the spatial distribution, timing of breeding and mass attack of the bloodsuckers on proximately, the change of life the schemes of the parasites in different climatic and geographic areas is of considerable theoretical and practical interest for veterinary and medical practices. For ixodid distinctive relationship with a particular landscape type and occurrence within certain habitats. That is why hese types of blood-sucking ectoparasites are able to pass to parasitism on new feeders. The development of civilization is accompanied by an active transformation of nature, as a result of which large areas disappear landscapes previously untouched by human hand. Naturally, such transformations, accompanied by the creation of anthropogenic landscapes, can not in one way or another affect the nature of the spread of zoonoses and, above all, natural focal infections, most closely related to the environment. The obtained data can be used by veterinary and medical services, as well as biologists of profile appointment in the planning of preventive measures of diseases associated with blood-sucking arthropods.

Mass attack by the ambrosia beetle Platypus quercivorus occurs in single trees and in groups of trees

Bark and ambrosia beetles sometimes kill trees by attacking them en masse; however, their attack is not necessarily successful. Less than half of the fagaceous trees attacked by the ambrosia beetle Platypus quercivorus (Murayama) die, and the factors affecting this mortality are still unknown. To examine this issue, the survival of all stems of fagaceous trees attacked by the ambrosia beetle was investigated in a secondary forest from 2008 to 2010. In an area of 93 ha, 2130 stems (1278 genets) of fagaceous trees were attacked by P. quercivorus during the study period, and 813 of these stems died. A generalized additive mixed model was constructed to predict the probability of mortality of the attacked stems. A best-fit model showed that the probability of mortality was higher in Quercus crispula Blume than in Castanea crenata Sieb. & Zucc. A positive correlation was determined between the density of the attacked trees and the probability of mortality, suggesting that mass attack of P. quercivorus occurs not only on individual trees, but also on groups of trees. Assuming that trees attacked earlier in the season have a higher probability of mortality, the observed negative effects of altitude suggest that P. quercivorus initially seeks hosts at lower elevations.

A Conceptual and Mechanistic Approach to Understanding Interactions Among Multiple Disturbance Agents: Compound Effects of Fire on Resource Availabilty to Bark Beetles

The objective of our project has been to determine the effects of fire on bark beetle populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Our general hypothesis has been that fire damaged trees provide refugia for mountain pine beetles (D. ponderosae) that allow populations to persist during non-outbreak periods. Our work combines field testing of bark beetle populations within a range of forests from burned to unburned, as well as spatial analyses (remote sensing) to determine whether the forest more proximal to fires have greater incidences of beetle mass attack. New efforts have focused on determining whether lodgepole pine (P. contorta) and whitebark pine (P. albicaulis) have differing chemical defensive capacities to beetle attack.