Gábor Lövei
Aarhus University, Department of Agroecology, Faculty Member
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
BACKGROUNDAgricultural landscapes provide resources for arthropod pests as well as their natural enemies. To develop integrated pest management (IPM) practices, it is important to understand how spatiotemporal location influences crop... more
BACKGROUNDAgricultural landscapes provide resources for arthropod pests as well as their natural enemies. To develop integrated pest management (IPM) practices, it is important to understand how spatiotemporal location influences crop colonization and damage severity. We performed a 3‐year (2016–2018) field experiment in winter oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) fields in Estonia, where half of the fields were within 500 m of the location of the previous year's winter OSR field and half were outside this zone. We investigated how distance from the previous year's OSR crop influences the infestation and parasitism rates of two of its most important pests: the pollen beetle (Brassicogethes aeneus) and the cabbage seed weevil (Ceutorhynchus obstrictus).RESULTSWhen the distance from the previous year's OSR crop was >500 m, we recorded significantly reduced pest pressure by both B. aeneus and C. obstrictus in the study fields. Biocontrol of both pests, provided by parasiti...
Research Interests:
The pollen beetle Brassicogethes aeneus is a serious pest of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) in Europe. Management of this pest has grown difficult due to B. aeneus’s development of resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, as well as the... more
The pollen beetle Brassicogethes aeneus is a serious pest of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) in Europe. Management of this pest has grown difficult due to B. aeneus’s development of resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, as well as the pressure to establish control strategies that minimise the impact on nontarget organisms. RNA interference represents a nucleotide sequence-based, and thus potentially species-specific, approach to agricultural pest control. The present study examined the efficacy of targeting the coatomer gene coatomer subunit alpha (αCOP), via both microinjection and dietary exposure to exogenous complementary dsRNA, on αCOP-silencing and subsequent mortality in B. aeneus. Beetles injected with dsRNA targeting αCOP (at 0.14 µg/mg) showed 88% and 100% mortality at 6 and 10 days post-injection, respectively; where by the same time after dietary exposure, 43%–89% mortality was observed in the 3 µg dsRNA/µL treatment, though the effect was concentration-dependent. Thus, t...
Research Interests:
... Gabor L. Lövei, Sergio Scebba and Mario Milone Lövei, GL, Scebba, S. and Milone, M. 1985. ... Osterlof & Stolt 1982). It was suggested that recently more Blackcaps winter in Britain (Langslow 1978) and in the Mediterranean... more
... Gabor L. Lövei, Sergio Scebba and Mario Milone Lövei, GL, Scebba, S. and Milone, M. 1985. ... Osterlof & Stolt 1982). It was suggested that recently more Blackcaps winter in Britain (Langslow 1978) and in the Mediterranean area (Moreau 1972). ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A qualitative filter paper test to determine total esterase activity in individual aphids was applied to sensitive and resistant strains of two aphid species selected in the laboratory and in the field. Increased esterase activity was... more
A qualitative filter paper test to determine total esterase activity in individual aphids was applied to sensitive and resistant strains of two aphid species selected in the laboratory and in the field. Increased esterase activity was found in two aphid species subjected to selection by two different types of insecticides, an organophosphorous compound and a carbamate. Sensitive aphids of boths species always gave faint spots while those of resistant ones were much darker. The test is simple and quick; it requires minimum equipment and can be performed under field conditions, too.ZusammenfassungEine Methode zur raschen Unterscheidung zwischen insektizid‐sensitiven und ‐resistenten Individuen von zwei Blattlaus‐Arten (Hom., Aphididae)Es wurde ein qualitativer Test zur Bestimmung der Gesamt‐Esteraseaktivität bei insektizid‐ sensitiven und ‐resistenten Blattlausindividuen von Aphis pisum Harr. und Breviocoryne brassicae (L.) durchgeführt. Bei sensitiven Individuen beider Arten wies das...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This dataset contains site-level summaries of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and... more
This dataset contains site-level summaries of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The underlying database is being assembled as part of the [PREDICTS project](http://www.predicts.org.uk) - Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems. A complete description of the data is given in [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1303](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1303).
Research Interests:
A dataset of 3,250,404 measurements, collated from 26,114 sampling locations in 94 countries and representing 47,044 species. The data were collated from 480 existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different... more
A dataset of 3,250,404 measurements, collated from 26,114 sampling locations in 94 countries and representing 47,044 species. The data were collated from 480 existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database was assembled as part of the PREDICTS project - Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems; [www.predicts.org.uk](http://www.predicts.org.uk).\r\n\r\nThe taxonomic identifications provided in the original data sets are those determined at the time of the original research, and so will not reflect subsequent taxonomic changes.\r\n\r\nThis dataset is described in [10.1002/ece3.2579](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2579). A description of the way that this dataset was assembled is given in [10.1002/ece3.1303](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1303).\r\n\r\n* `columns.csv`: Description of data extract columns\r\n* `database...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity... more
The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international effort...
Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Chemistry, Conservation Biology, Conservation, Community Ecology, and 15 moreBiology, Environment and natural resources conservation, Ecology, Community Health, Biodiversity Informatics, Climate, Biodiversity, Databases, Biodiversity Conservation, Biodiversity Research, Conservación y Restauración, Ecologia, Data Sharing, Ecology and Evolution, and Database
In this chapter, the adverse effects of transgenic cotton on nontarget flower visitors (such as honey bees and Bombus spp.) in Vietnam are discussed, focusing on the following: (i) potential reduction in pollination value; (ii) potential... more
In this chapter, the adverse effects of transgenic cotton on nontarget flower visitors (such as honey bees and Bombus spp.) in Vietnam are discussed, focusing on the following: (i) potential reduction in pollination value; (ii) potential reduction in the economic value of bee products; (iii) potential adverse effects stemming from reduction in wild bee populations, including effects on other species and loss of genetic diversity; and (iv) potential reduction in species with conservation value or biological control value. The following procedures for the assessment of the potential effects of Bt cotton on non-target flower visitors in cotton ecosystems in Vietnam are discussed: (i) list non-target flower visitors and identify species for further evaluation; (ii) identify potential exposure pathways and potential adverse effect pathways; (iii) formulate risk hypotheses based on the identified exposure pathways and adverse effect pathways; (iv) and design experiments testing the risk h...
Research Interests:
The environmental risks associated with genetically-engineered (GE) organisms have been controversial, and so have the models for the assessment of these risks. We propose an ecologically-based environmental risk assessment (ERA) model... more
The environmental risks associated with genetically-engineered (GE) organisms have been controversial, and so have the models for the assessment of these risks. We propose an ecologically-based environmental risk assessment (ERA) model that follows the 1998 USEPA guidelines, focusing on potential adverse effects to biological diversity. The approach starts by (1) identifying the local environmental values so the ERA addresses specific concerns associated with local biological diversity. The model simplifies the indicator endpoint selection problem by (2) classifying biological diversity into ecological functional groups and selecting those that deliver the identified environmental values. (3) All of the species or ecosystem processes related to the selected functional groups are identified and (4) multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is used to rank the indicator endpoint entities, which may be species or ecological processes. MCDA focuses on those species and processes that are ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This chapter elaborates on case-specific methodologies (for use during the pre-release stages of Bt cotton) to support risk assessment of nontarget organisms and biodiversity applied to the Brazil case study: (1) identifying... more
ABSTRACT This chapter elaborates on case-specific methodologies (for use during the pre-release stages of Bt cotton) to support risk assessment of nontarget organisms and biodiversity applied to the Brazil case study: (1) identifying functional categories of biodiversity; (2) listing and prioritizing nontarget species and processes; (3) identifying trophically mediated exposure pathways to transgenic plant and transgene products; (4) identifying possible adverse effect scenarios for trophically mediated and other ecological effects; and (5) testing hypotheses and experimental designs to test causal chains of events associated with specific exposure pathways and adverse effect scenarios. A systematic, scientifically justifiable precautionary approach for dealing with scientific uncertainty is also provided
Research Interests: Biology and Biodiversity
... M VAN LÂM, PHAM VAN TOAN, CARMEN SS PIRES, EDISON R. SUJII, TRÀC KHU'O'NG LAI, EVELYN UNDERWOOD, RON E. WHEATLEY, LEWIS J. WILSON, CLAUDIA ZWAHLEN AND DAVID A. ANDOW... more
... M VAN LÂM, PHAM VAN TOAN, CARMEN SS PIRES, EDISON R. SUJII, TRÀC KHU'O'NG LAI, EVELYN UNDERWOOD, RON E. WHEATLEY, LEWIS J. WILSON, CLAUDIA ZWAHLEN AND DAVID A. ANDOW Biological diversity supports and comprises ecological functions that ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Geography, Ecosystem Services, Conservation Biology, Conservation, Environmental Planning, and 15 moreBiodiversity, Medicine, Conservation Science, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Europe, Conservation Psychology, Land Use, Economic Impact, Climatic Change, Environmental Impact, Ecosystem, Natura, Conservation of Natural Resources, and Environment
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In China, two invasive pests, Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (Gennadius) and Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), often co-occur with the native pest, Aphis gossypii (Glover), on plants of Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae. All three are preyed on by... more
In China, two invasive pests, Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (Gennadius) and Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), often co-occur with the native pest, Aphis gossypii (Glover), on plants of Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae. All three are preyed on by the native ladybird, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas); however, the native predator might be expected to prefer native prey to the exotic ones due to a shared evolutionary past. In order to clarify whether the presence of native prey affected the consumption of these two invasive species by the native predator, field-cage experiments were conducted. A duplex qPCR was used to simultaneously detect both non-native pests within the gut of the predator. H. axyridis readily accepted both invasive prey species, but preferred B. tabaci. With all three prey species available, H. axyridis consumption of B. tabaci was 39.3±2.2% greater than consumption of F. occidentalis. The presence of A. gossypii reduced (by 59.9% on B. tabaci, and by 60.6% on F. occidentalis), b...
Research Interests:
The performance of Alopecosa pulverulenta that preyed on Aphis gossypii supplied with the transgenic cotton cultivar SGK321 (GM; with Cry 1 Ac and CpT1) was studied. A. pulverulenta exhibited greater survival and development when they... more
The performance of Alopecosa pulverulenta that preyed on Aphis gossypii supplied with the transgenic cotton cultivar SGK321 (GM; with Cry 1 Ac and CpT1) was studied. A. pulverulenta exhibited greater survival and development when they were fed with aphids and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) alternately than when fed on aphids alone. When only the aphids were supplied under limited or unlimited feeding regimes, the effect on A. pulverulenta was the same whether the aphids were reared on GM or non-GM cotton. In the unlimited feeding experiment, A. pulverulenta exhibited greater survival when it was fed with aphids from GM cotton and fruit flies alternately, compared with that fed on aphids from non-GM cotton and fruit flies alternately. The body mass of A. pulverulenta did not significantly vary between the 2 treatments. The results indicated that GM cotton had no adverse effects on the survival and development of A. pulverulenta
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Zoology, Biology, Fertility, Population Dynamics, China, and 15 moreMedicine, Longevity, Female, Animals, Male, Hemiptera, Interspecific competition, Nymph, Species Specificity, Whitefly, Pest Management Science, Lycopersicon esculentum, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, greenhouse whitefly, and Life Cycle Stages
Research Interests:
A non-target environmental risk assessment model is presented in five steps, each of which is described in detail and then applied to the case study of Bt maize in Kenya. The steps are as follows: (1) categorize and list potential... more
A non-target environmental risk assessment model is presented in five steps, each of which is described in detail and then applied to the case study of Bt maize in Kenya. The steps are as follows: (1) categorize and list potential non-targets species and their ecological ...
Research Interests:
The world-wide, rapid urbanization is leading to substantial changes in environmental and habitat conditions. These changes, as well as disturbances accompanying urbanization have considerable effects at various levels of the biological... more
The world-wide, rapid urbanization is leading to substantial changes in environmental and habitat conditions. These changes, as well as disturbances accompanying urbanization have considerable effects at various levels of the biological organization on wildlife. Understanding behavioral responses to such changes is essential for identifying which organisms may successfully adapt to the altered conditions. In this study, individuals of a forest specialist ground beetle, Carabus convexus, from rural and urban forest patches were tested for their exploratory and risk-taking behavior. Beetles responded consistently in the different contexts; furthermore, by behaving consistently over time, demonstrated that they had personalities. Agglomerative cluster analysis identified two groups of behavioral traits: the exploratory and the risk-taking dimension of personality. Urban females were significantly more exploratory than urban males which can be an adaptation to find high quality food nee...
Research Interests:
Urbanization is increasing worldwide and causes substantial changes in environmental parameters, generating various kinds of stress on arthropods, with several harmful consequences. We examined a forest specialist ground beetle, Carabus... more
Urbanization is increasing worldwide and causes substantial changes in environmental parameters, generating various kinds of stress on arthropods, with several harmful consequences. We examined a forest specialist ground beetle, Carabus convexus, in forested habitats to evaluate the changes in four important life history traits between rural and urban populations. Analyzing beetles from the overwintered cohort in their first breeding season, we found no significant differences in body length or body mass between the rural and urban individuals. Body condition, judged by fat reserve scores, was similarly poor in both habitats, indicating that beetles were not able to accumulate substantial fat reserves at either habitat. Females with ripe eggs in their ovaries were first captured at the same time in both areas. The number of ripe eggs, however, was significantly higher in females of the low-density urban population (6.13 eggs/female) than in those of the high-density rural population...
Research Interests: Biology, Ecology, Urbanization, Medicine, Population, and 5 moreHabitat, Insects, Population Density, Fecundity, and Hatching
Worldwide human-induced habitat fragmentation intensifies the emergence of forest edges. In addition to these edges, there are edges evolved by natural processes. Edge-maintaining processes (natural vs. anthropogenic) fundamentally... more
Worldwide human-induced habitat fragmentation intensifies the emergence of forest edges. In addition to these edges, there are edges evolved by natural processes. Edge-maintaining processes (natural vs. anthropogenic) fundamentally determine edge responses, and thus edge functions. Species with various traits show fundamentally different edge response, therefore the trait-based approach is essential in edge studies. We evaluated the edge effect on the body size of ground beetles in forest edges with various maintaining processes. Our results, based on 30 published papers and 221 species, showed that natural forest edges were impenetrable for small species, preventing their dispersal into the forest interiors, while both the medium and the large species penetrated across these edges and dispersed into the forest interiors. Anthropogenic edges maintained by continued human disturbance (agriculture, forestry, urbanisation) were permeable for ground beetles of all size, allowing them to...
Research Interests:
Purpose of Review Urbanization is increasing worldwide, transforming environmental and habitat parameters, and causing adverse effects on organisms living in urban habitats. Urban studies on ground beetles are exponentially increasing and... more
Purpose of Review Urbanization is increasing worldwide, transforming environmental and habitat parameters, and causing adverse effects on organisms living in urban habitats. Urban studies on ground beetles are exponentially increasing and cover all levels of biological organization. Still, to date, there is no comprehensive paper reviewing the impacts of urbanization on ground beetles at different levels of biological organization. Recent Findings At the population level, urbanization induces changes in the morphological characters, including fluctuating asymmetry, physiological condition, behavioral characteristics, seasonal activity, population size, and genetic diversity in ground beetles. Different species groups (habitat specialists vs. generalists, large vs. small-sized species, poor vs. good dispersers, predators vs. herbivores) respond differently to urbanization. Community-level changes associated with urbanization include the abundance, taxonomic as well as functional dive...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Tea (Camellia sinensis) is an important food product with thousands of years of human use. Being a non-washable food, no pesticide residues are allowed, which increases the importance of natural means of plant protection. Predation, a... more
Tea (Camellia sinensis) is an important food product with thousands of years of human use. Being a non-washable food, no pesticide residues are allowed, which increases the importance of natural means of plant protection. Predation, a component of natural pest control, is an important contributor to this, but its level and sustainability are not known in most of the areas of tea production. We quantified predation intensity using the artificial sentinel prey method in a tea-growing landscape containing remnants of the original forest vegetation in Fujian Province, China. The most common predators were chewing arthropods (49.8% of predation events) and birds (48.1%). Overall, predation rates at the edges of forest fragments (18.9% d-1) were lower than either in fragment interiors (25.4%d−1) or in the surrounding tea plantations (19.2–24.1%d-1). Arthropod predation was higher inside, and at the edge of, forest fragments than within plantations, and generally decreased with increasing ...
Research Interests: Biology, Ecology, Medicine, Predation, Insects, and 3 moreCamellia sinensis, PEST analysis, and Guild
Urbanization is one of the most important global trends which causes habitat reduction and alteration which are, in turn, the main reasons for the well-documented reduction in structural and functional diversity in urbanized environments.... more
Urbanization is one of the most important global trends which causes habitat reduction and alteration which are, in turn, the main reasons for the well-documented reduction in structural and functional diversity in urbanized environments. In contrast, effects on ecological mechanisms are less known. Predation is one of the most important ecological functions because of its community-structuring effects. We studied six forest habitats along a riverside urbanization gradient in Szeged, a major city in southern Hungary, crossed by the river Tisza, to describe how extreme events (e.g., floods) as primary selective pressure act on adaptation in riparian habitats. We found a generally decreasing predation pressure from rural to urban habitats as predicted by the increasing disturbance hypothesis (higher predator abundances in rural than in urban habitats). The only predators that reacted differently to urbanization were ground active arthropods, where results conformed to the prediction o...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Diversity relations among three stages of an urbanisation gradient were studied, using the Rényi scalable diversity index family and the Right Tail Sum (RTS) diversity. The rural areas were less diverse than either the urban or the... more
Diversity relations among three stages of an urbanisation gradient were studied, using the Rényi scalable diversity index family and the Right Tail Sum (RTS) diversity. The rural areas were less diverse than either the urban or the suburban ones. The urban areas were more diverse considering the dominant species, while the suburban areas were more diverse considering the rare species. Next, we examined the impact of different sampling regimes on these diversity relations. A pulsating sampling method (sampling for 2 weeks every month) gave the same diversity ordering as continuous sampling. Further reduction in sampling period altered the diversity relations.
Research Interests:
The seasonal activity of six carabid species (Nebria brevicollis, Carabus nemoralis, C. hortensis, C. coriaceus, Pterostichus melanarius and Abax parallelepipedus) was studied along an urbanisation gradient (rural forest – suburban forest... more
The seasonal activity of six carabid species (Nebria brevicollis, Carabus nemoralis, C. hortensis, C. coriaceus, Pterostichus melanarius and Abax parallelepipedus) was studied along an urbanisation gradient (rural forest – suburban forest – forest fragments in urban park) in Sorø, Denmark, during April–October 2004 and 2005.Two groups were identified: 1) Species with constant seasonality, in which seasonal activity profiles did not differ along the gradient (C. hortensis, C. coriaceus, and A. parallelepipedus); 2) Species with flexible seasonality,with remarkable differences along the gradient and between the years (C. nemoralis, N. brevicollis and P. melanarius). In four out of six studied species, 2005 was less favourable than 2004. Spring activity in the urban habitat started earlier than in the suburban or forested ones. A better understanding of urban green infrastructures in biodiversity assessments may need the study of seasonality in order to distinguish whether the bioindic...