The ability to cope with plant defense chemicals differs between specialist and generalist species. In this study, we examined the effects of the concentration of the two main iridoid glycosides (IGs) in Plantago lanceolata, aucubin and catalpol, on the performance of a specialist and two generalist herbivores and their respective endoparasitoids. Development of the specialist herbivore Melitaea cinxia was unaffected by the total leaf IG concentration in its host plant. By contrast, the generalist herbivores Spodoptera exigua and Chrysodeixis chalcites showed delayed larval and pupal development on plant genotypes with high leaf IG concentrations, respectively. This result is in line with the idea that specialist herbivores are better adapted to allelochemicals in host plants on which they...
The authors have developed a complex of activation methods of analysis using a nuclear reactor (nuclear activation analysis) and a cyclotron (charged-particle activation analysis). The methods have been used to determine the concentrations of more than 20 elements in five medicinal plants native to Uzbekistan: Syrian rue (Peganum harmala L.), plantain (Plantago lanceolata), peppermint (Mentha piperata L.), sage (Salvia officinalis L.), and ziziphora (Ziziphora bungeana Yur.). The results of radio-activation analysis were compared with the results of standard spectral analysis performed in another laboratory and the accuracy of the procedures developed was evaluated on the basis of the results.
Wood usage for cooking and heating is still very relevant in most developing countries especially those of sub-Saharan Africa and many parts of Asia. Therefore, sustainable means of generating it for this and other purposes are necessary bearing in mind the influence of indigenous knowledge/users' perspective on any production method regarding success and sustenance. In conformity with this view, questionnaires were administered on 240 respondents in 8 rural communities of Akinyele and Ido Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Oyo State, Nigeria, to elicit information on species that can be used as fuelwood, preferred by the respondents for incorporation into and/or retention in agroforestry plots, out of which 179 (i.e. 75% of the total number of questionnaires administered) were successfully retrieved for statistical analyses. Twelve woody species namely: Annona senegalensis, Anogeissus leiocarpus, Bridelia ferruginea, Daniellia oliveri, Detarium microcarpum, Gardenia ternifolia, ...