Insect plant interactions

Indeed, I am so interested to work on gypsy moth ecology and control in forests. Also interested looking at pest-pollination interactions.
It is interesting that you are doing very good deal with Lepidoptera in Himalaya region. Did you work in Tien Shan mountains?

I forgot to mention that Pogue & Schaefer are interested in pheromone communication. They have the communication of dispar pretty well worked out. The idea is to atract males to pheromone lures and destroy them. Do you use this technique?
We have quite a lot of species of Lymantria here, but there are only few population outbreaks. Perhaps "pest" is not a correct term for something that has always been there, often long before us, and is merely achieveing phenomenal success in its evolutionary path. While there are several hundreds of species which we refer to as "pests", it is more than likely that the rest of the 8 million species on earth are unanimous that the biggest "pest" species on earth at the moment are humans! As the saying goes, when I point one finger at others, the three remaining fingers on my hand point directly at me!
Peter Smetacek

Indeed I was also interested what Paul doing with pheromone communications. Sure I am used the milk carton traps for gypsy moth in forests. Unfortunately I am and Paul will focus to use new traps in our forest in future. We will see what happened.
I do not think so that "pest' is not correct term for insects which might be damage of trees. What do you think?

Almaz

Dear Peter,
thank you very much for your kind comments. Indeed it is still interestings discussion topic on pests or forest defoliators or population outbreaks and etc..
I'll get back touch to you soon. - Almaz

Dear Almaz,
Yes, it is nice to live in the Himalaya, but even as people have a dream to come to the Himalaya and look at butterflies, so, naturally, I, too, think of visiting other places to see butterflies, especially warm places such as S.E. Asia, Brazil, etc!
Here, we are plagued by the activities of what is locally known as the land mafia and various terrorist organisations, which are trying to set up shop in this area.
The project I have just completed was to do with ascertaining the altitudinal distribution of moths in this area. The outermost range of the Himalaya, whre I live, rises from roughly 400 m to 2600 m and there are several forest types. Until now, random collections had been made in likely places, but the actual altitudinal distribution of most species was unclear. Some information has been added to this.
An interesting thing that emerged is that what is classified as the same forest type supports different moth (and butterfly) communities at different elevation. Why this is so, is yet unclear, but it should not be so. Either two forest types are erroneously classified as one due to superficial similarity, or something else. Time will tell.
Perhaps you have examples of this there, too?
My work ties in to obtaining sufficient base line data for the eventual re-introduction of indigenous forest ecosystems in the headwaters of Indian rivers, with a view to reducing the amount of floods in the lower reaches of the rivers.
You can see more about this on my website, www.himagni.com.
Warm regards,
Peter

Peter Smetacek

Dear Almaz,
Are there any records for the Gypsy Moth, Lymantria dispar, from the trans Himalayan parts of India or neighbouring parts of Tibet?

Hello guys,

I think, the word 'pest' is truly apporpiate for any insect (!) species able to produce outbreaks and cause damage. Of course, it is human induced term as normally natural processes happen/occur 'without' the need of naming these processes by the humans.

Peter, have you ever worked on 'pest/herbivoure - parasitoid' interrelationships?

With kind regards,
Aurel

Dear Peter,

Unfortunately, we are, you're right. We, of whom the species's latin name is Homo sapiens, are the most dangerous and we are the biggest pest the world had ever known.
And we, mankind, try to mend what we caused. Silly. But this is life. I think our future is becoming more and more unstable from this point of view.

Best regards for you work
Aurel

P.S. According to your name, you might be from Czech Republic/Poland? Sorry for asking so... I myself now live and stay in the Czech Republic, though not originally from...

Again, you say, "And we, mankind, try to mend what we have caused." The problem, to my mind, is that some of us try to mend what we have caused, while the others (perhaps the majority) go right ahead causing it.
The future has always been unstable. Think of what the dinosaurs felt when the Ice Age started. In fact, with all the talk of global warming, I think much of it is negative thinking: sea level rise, increasing extremes in nature and what not. During the 1960s, scientists reported a global cooling: that would be something to really worry about. An ice age would probably mess up things for us much more than global warming ever could!
Well, yes, we are from the Czech Republic: actually the Sudetenland.Old Schicklgruber was the main reason for our shift to India!
Good luck in what you are doing, too!
Peter Smetacek

Hi Peter,

Some scientists say the next 'Ice Age' is upcoming in ca 3000 years or so, but before that a 'serious' global warming is being operating in. All this seems to be a 'natural' process. We will only witness it and probably mix up a bit of things in.

I wanted to send you an e-reprint of our paper about the effects of accidentaly introduced opportunistic parasitoids (Hymenoptera-Parasitica: Braconidae) on endemic butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) of the Canary Islands (Spain) of Macaronesia. It is already sent to your email: Lozan A., Monaghan M., Spitzer K., Jaroš J., Zurovcova M., Broz V. (published online 2007): DNA-based confirmation that the parasitic wasp Cotesia glomerata (Braconidae, Hymenoptera) is a new threat to endemic butterflies of the Canary Islands. Conservation Genetics (http://www.springerlink.com/content/2953037u2p3438r6/).

I am interested in invasive species and the biocontrol. Despite that parasitoids are successfully used as biocontrol agents, there have been many examples of parasitoids creating problems in non-native areas where introduced to control target-species. Unfortunately, they might easily shift from target to non-target species, so a thorough investigation should be done before introducing the bioagents. A classical example is the Hawaii Islands, so parasitoids introduced some (since) 100 years ago have significantly reduced populations of local endemic butterflies, and probably we are not yet aware of what damage had been done.

I also think that changes in environment, done by mankind or naturally going on, are provoking the explosions of biotic factors (as parasitoids, for exapmles) which are able to harm the other biotic creatures that they are trophicalli linked with. The problem is to the mankind: will we be able not to do/provoke so many changes which might disturbe the balance and cause the irreversibility?

With kind entomological regards
Aurel

Dear Aurel,
Thank you for wanting to send me the paper. I have not received it yet.
What you have pointed out is no doubt true. On the other hand, do remember that humans are not the only agency for transporting plants and creatures around. Once a life-form is in a new environment, it will try to survive. It might cause great changes in the new environment, which can be viewed as damage or opportunities. The extinction or reduction of one life form frees up the resources it was using, permitting othr forms of life to exploit those resources....
Often, it takes some time for balancing factors to emerge, but the eventually do.
Take the case of syphilis and humans: imported from the New World, it swept through the Old World causing an untold number of deaths in the greatest misery. It took more than four centuries, but the solution was in the Old World, in the form of penicillin. That was the end of the dominion of the life forms causing syphilis...
If one were to ask other forms of life inhabiting this planet about humans, more likely than not, they feel that humans are rather undesirable.
The "end of the world" scenario that politicians (whether in the garb of statesmen or environmentalists)use to scare a gullible public is not really the end of Life in the world, but a reduction in human population, especially in developed countries. Given how we, as a species, are as active as a pathogen on the body of the earth, it is difficult to see how we can avoid the inevitable changes that have to follow.
However, throughout human history, people who wanted or tried to save the human species from disaster were crucified, burnt, hung, drawn or quartered. Creators of new weapons were lauded. Basically Einstein is more respected and more famous than Michael Faraday because you cannot kill as many people with electricity as you can with an atomic bomb.
Ask any 3 year old boy what he is impressed by: it will be the largest dinosaur, the biggest digger, raw power in any form. Many people do not grow out of this stage and tend to respect the most fearsome dictator. Likewise, we respect the guzzlers of energy and resources, who are at the root of the problems facing industrialised mankind.Actually, it is they who should be chastised and shown how to live their lives with less resources.
Incidentally, entomological regards must be cold, so I shall wish you warm, mammilian regards!
Peter
Peter Smetacek

Dear Peter,

Thank you very much for your messages and discussions. These days I am busy with various preparations etc. By the end of October I shall be going to London (BMNH) for a month of a Synthesys work. Before that a shrot trip to Romania is clearly seen.
Nonetheless, I am happy to getting messages from you.
I am planning to apply a short trip-grant to British Ecological Society on "Effects of parasitoid community on Macrolepidoptera of Moldova Republic: consequences of changes in environment". I suggest that direct changes in environment araising in areas exposed to various risks (desertification, habitat defragmentation, pollution etc.), as Moldova Republic is (and many countries as well), may porvoke and indirectly involve biotic factors (e.g. parasitoids, pathogens etc.) in altering the host populations. Macrolepidoptera may suffer from, in particular rare and vulnerable taxa. Their future is not stable unless protective steps are taken. Such steps I can see in the "Microreserve" policy within future National Parks which are not yet existing in Moldova!
I would like to kindly ask you to have an eye on my small project as a well-known Lepidopterologist and conservationsist (it's a short text). If you agree I may send it to you.
By the way, I sent you our article to petersmetacek@rediffmail.com, Please confirm it. Thanks.

Once again I wish you all the best in your way
Yours,
Aurel

Dear Aurel,
Thank you for the message. I would be happy to have a look at your project. More important, thank you very much for the article which arrived safely. Unfortunately, every time I tried to acknowledge receipt, the mail bounced, so I am forced to use this forum to acknowledge receipt of the article. Please excuse this.
Lucky you! I hear that Romania is a very beautiful country, although perhaps the season at which you will be there is not the best.
We have had a very wet year so far, the rainy season just does not seem to end. For insects, that is very good, but otherwise it is a bit depressing, after so many months of rain, to have yet more rain when one looked forward to clear autumn skies is a bit of a let down...
Good luck at the BMNH. Hope you manage to discover a new parasitoid on the lawns there, as I heard a beetle man did recently!
Best wishes,
Peter