The prevailing paradigm of host-parasite evolution is that arms races lead to increasing specialisation via genetic adaptation. Insect herbivores are no exception and the majority have evolved to colonise a small number of closely related host species. Remarkably, the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, colonises plant species across 40 families and single M. persicae clonal lineages can colonise distantly related plants. This remarkable ability makes M. persicae a highly destructive pest of many important crop species.

In an age of free international shipments of mail-ordered seeds and plants, more policing will not stop the global migration of hitchhiking pests. The solution is in a preemptive response based on an internationally coordinated genomic deployment of global biodiversity in the largest breeding project since the “Garden of Eden.” This plan will enrich the narrow genetic basis of annual and perennial plants with adaptations to changing environments and resistances to the pests of the future.

Spatial synchrony, the tendency of distant populations to fluctuate similarly, is a major concern in ecology. Except in special circumstances, researchers historically had difficulty identifying drivers of synchrony in field systems. Perhaps for this reason, the possibility that changes in large-scale climatic drivers may modify synchrony, thereby impacting ecosystems and human concerns, has been little examined. Here, we use wavelets to determine environmental drivers of phenological synchrony across Britain for 20 aphid species, most major crop pests.

During 2007, counties across the Midwestern US with relatively high levels of landscape simplification (i.e., widespread replacement of seminatural habitats with cultivated crops) had relatively high crop-pest abundances which, in turn, were associated with relatively high insecticide application. These results suggested a positive relationship between landscape simplification and insecticide use, mediated by landscape effects on crop pests or their natural enemies.

The need to intensify agricultural production due to a growing human population requires yield gaps to be closed. In 2009 and 2010, five management factors were assessed for their individual and cumulative contributions to reducing the corn (Zea mays L.) yield gap and yield components in a corn–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation. Five management factors (plant population, transgenic insect resistance, fungicide containing strobilurin, P–S–Zn fertility, and N fertility) were evaluated.

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides world-wide, but their fate in the environment remains unclear, as does their potential to influence non-target species and the roles they play in agroecosystems. The researchers investigated in laboratory and field studies the influence of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, applied as a coating to soya bean seeds, on interactions among soya beans, non target molluscan herbivores and their insect predators.

In view of awareness toward nature-friendly management of plant diseases, the need of integration and use of indigenous knowledge (IK) with modern biological control measures has been emphasized. In view of new insights being generated it is accentuated to reassess the system of sustainable plant disease management. One farmer-inspired indigenous practice of using raw cow milk as seed treatment has been experimentally validated integrating with Trichoderma spp. (the farmer-friendly fungus and biocontrol agent) at farmers' fields and at C. R.

Biodiversity is undergoing unprecedented global decline. Efforts to slow this rate have focused foremost on rarer species, which are at most risk of extinction. Less interest has been paid to more common species, despite their greater importance in terms of ecosystem function and service provision. How rates of decline are partitioned between common and less abundant species remains unclear. Using a 30-year data set of 144 bird species, we examined Europe-wide trends in avian abundance and biomass.