NIU , Chang-Ying

The cotton aphid Aphis gossypii Glover is the main aphid pest in cotton fields in the Yangtze River Valley Cotton-planting Zone (YRZ) in central China. Various natural enemies may attack the cotton aphid in Bt cotton fields but no studies have identified potential specific top-down forces that could help manage this pest in the YRZ in China. In...

The transgenic Cry1Ac (Bt toxin) + CpTI (Cowpea Trypsin Inhibitor) cotton cultivar CCRI41 is increasingly used in China and potential side effects on the honey bee Apis mellifera L. have been documented recently. Two studies have assessed potential lethal and sublethal effects in young bees fed with CCRI41 cotton pollen but no effect was...

The Chinese citrus fruit fly, Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) is a univoltine Tephritidae pest that infests Citrus species. Field trials were conducted in 2010 to determine the potential use of a lure based on enzymatical-hydrolyzed beer yeast as liquid bait (hereafter named H-protein bait) for B. minax in the Hubei province, China. In a citrus...

Transgenic Cry1Ac + CpTI cotton (CCRI41) is increasingly planted throughout China. However, negative effects of this cultivar on the honey bee Apis mellifera L., the most important pollinator for cultivated ecosystem, remained poorly investigated. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential side effects of transgenic Cry1Ac + CpTI...

Since 2004 the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) has become widespread and economically important in Wuhan, Hubei Province, central China. In this article, the population dynamics of B. dorsalis were monitored using methyl eugenol-baited traps during 2008-2009 in Wuhan. Adults were captured from early July to the end of December...

Bactrocera minax is a major citrus pest in China, Bhutan, and India. It is univoltine and exhibits pupal diapause during winter. To better understand pupal diapause in this pest, we investigated pupal survival and pupal developmental duration under field and laboratory conditions. Specifically, we tested if pupal chilling was required for...

Bactrocera dorsalis is one of the most economically important fruit flies around the world. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing was used to identify the bacteria associated with different developmental stages of B. dorsalis. At >= 97% nucleotide similarity, total reads could be assigned to 172 Operational Taxonomic Units belonging to six phyla....

Variation in resource inputs to plants may trigger bottom-up effects on herbivorous insects. We examined the effects of water input: optimal water vs. limited water; water salinity: with vs. without addition of 100 mM NaCl; and their interactions on tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum), and consequently, the bottom-up effects on the tomato leaf...

Top-down force is referred to arthropod pest management delivered by the organisms from higher trophic levels. In the context of prevalent adoption of transgenic Bt crops that produce insecticidal Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), it still remains elusive whether the top-down forces are affected by the insect-resistant...

BACKGROUND: Bottom-up and top-down forces are major components of biological control against pests in an agro-ecosystem. Understanding the multi-trophic interactions between plants and secondary consumers would help optimize pest control strategies. We manipulated nitrogen and/or water inputs to tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) to test...

Abstract Variation in resource inputs to plants may trigger bottom-up effects on herbivorous insects. We examined the effects of water input: optimal water vs . limited water; water salinity: with vs. without addition of 100 mM NaCl; and their interactions on tomato plants ( Solanum lycopersicum ), and consequently, the bottom-up effects on the...