We studied whether the increased abundance of B. ulmella in 1997 was associated with environmental pollution from an aluminium plant. To clarify this question we selected nine study sites at a distance of 1.4-18 km (control) from the aluminium plant in Central Slovakia. We found a sigifnicant difference in the moth numbers between the third and fourth site even though these sites are distant from each other only about 200 m. Each site was exposed to pollution from different part of the plant complex producing specific emissions of different quantity. This might explain differences in the moth abundance within the polluted area

Development and trend of global wind tunnel research from 1991 to 2014 were evaluated by bibliometric analysis. Based on the statistical data from Science Citation Index Expanded from Web of Science, publication performance of wind tunnel research was analyzed from various aspects, including publication output, category distributions, journals, countries, institutions, leading articles, and words analysis. The results show that scientific articles associated with wind tunnel increased dramatically, with Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics as the most productive journal. The USA has been leading in publication output since 1991, while China has become a new-rising force of wind tunnel research. NASA was the dominant institution in wind tunnel field which published most single institution articles and nationally and internationally collaborative articles. The citation lifecycles of the leading articles exhibited different patterns of their trends, but all reached a plateau in certain years. Based on synthesized analysis of title words, abstract words, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) was found to be a hot issue, which needs experimental validation by wind tunnels. Wind loads and wind turbine also caused increasing attentions while lepidoptera and sex pheromone were less studied. In the wind tunnel articles, numerical simulation of CFD was increasingly mentioned while field measurement showed minor change, suggesting the rapid developments of CFD.

We assessed the state of knowledge regarding the effects of large-scale pollution with neonicotinoid insecticides and fipronil on non-target invertebrate species of terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. A large section of the assessment is dedicated to the state of knowledge on sublethal effects on honeybees (Apis mellifera) because this important pollinator is the most studied non-target invertebrate species. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Lumbricidae (earthworms), Apoidae sensu lato (bumblebees, solitary bees) and the section “other invertebrates” review available studies on the other terrestrial species. The sections on freshwater and marine species are rather short as little is known so far about the impact of neonicotinoid insecticides and fipronil on the diverse invertebrate fauna of these widely exposed habitats. For terrestrial and aquatic invertebrate species, the known effects of neonicotinoid pesticides and fipronil are described ranging from organismal toxicology and behavioural effects to population-level effects. For earthworms, freshwater and marine species, the relation of findings to regulatory risk assessment is described. Neonicotinoid insecticides exhibit very high toxicity to a wide range of invertebrates, particularly insects, and field-realistic exposure is likely to result in both lethal and a broad range of important sublethal impacts. There is a major knowledge gap regarding impacts on the grand majority of invertebrates, many of which perform essential roles enabling healthy ecosystem functioning. The data on the few non-target species on which field tests have been performed are limited by major flaws in the outdated test protocols. Despite large knowledge gaps and uncertainties, enough knowledge exists to conclude that existing levels of pollution with neonicotinoids and fipronil resulting from presently authorized uses frequently exceed the lowest observed adverse effect concentrations and are thus likely to have large-scale and wide ranging negative biological and ecological impacts on a wide range of non-target invertebrates in terrestrial, aquatic, marine and benthic habitats.

Most of the detrimental effects of using conventional insecticides to control crop pests are now well identified and are nowadays major arguments for replacing such compounds by the use of biological control agents. In this respect, the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki and Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) parasitic wasp species are both effective against lepidopterous pests and can actually be used concomitantly. In this work, we studied the potential side effects of B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki on Trichogramma chilonis females. We first evidenced an acute toxicity of B. thuringiensis on T. chilonis. Then, after ingestion of B. thuringiensis at sublethal doses, we focused on life history traits of T. chilonis such as longevity, reproductive success and the time spent on host eggs patches. The reproductive success of T. chilonis was not modified by B. thuringiensis while a significant effect was observed on longevity and the time spent on host eggs patches. The physiological and ecological meanings of the results obtained are discussed.