Université de Fribourg

Establishing systemic rust infections in Cirsium arvense in the field

Wandeler, Heiri ; Nentwig, Wolfgang ; Bacher, Sven

In: Biocontrol Science and Technology, 2008, vol. 18, no. 2, p. 209-214

An existing method to induce systemic rust infections in creeping thistles (Cirsium arvense) using an insect vector, the weevil Ceratapion onopordi, was successfully applied in the field. Urediniospores of Puccinia punctiformis were experimentally transmitted to naturally grown thistles, to our knowledge for the first time resulting in systemically infected shoots in an established thistle...

Université de Fribourg

Functional responses: a question of alternative prey and predator density

Tschanz, Britta ; Bersier, Louis-Félix ; Bacher, Sven

In: Ecology, 2007, vol. 88, no. 5, p. 1300–1308

Throughout the study of ecology, there has been a growing realization that indirect effects among species cause complexity in food webs. Understanding and predicting the behavior of ecosystems consequently depends on our ability to identify indirect effects and their mechanisms. The present study experimentally investigates indirect interactions arising between two prey species that share a...