Several biological and environmental factors have direct or indirect influence on maturation, fecundity and egg viability of marine fishes. The relationships observed between these reproductive characteristics and specific biological and/or environmental indices may provide alternative methods of estimating annual variations in the reproductive potential of fish stocks in the absence of specific data, or represent a more rapid and less costly method of monitoring egg production. The utility of these relationships to serve as proxies for egg production will depend on the predictive power of the relationships, the effort required to measure selected proxies, the scale of application, and the availability of pre-existing target data. We believe that alternative methods to measure reproductive output could be developed for some reproductive characteristics needed to estimate egg/larval production using data already available. This review, largely based on gadoid fish species, indicates that relationships between indices of nutritional condition (e.g. condition factor, liver index) and potential fecundity meet the criteria of predictability and low effort and thus are candidate proxies for measuring egg production. No relationship examined was a suitable proxy for egg/larval viability and age-and size-at-maturity. The development of alternative measures of reproductive characteristics of fish could result in more precise estimates of reproductive potential of fish stocks that could be used for hindcasting and predicting egg and/or larval production and viability.

1. The predictions of the marginal value theorem, that foragers should spend more time in both better quality patches and more distant patches, were tested with three European ant species, Lasius fuliginosus, L. niger and Myrmica ruginodis. 2. As the quality of patches of sucrose solution increased, the feeding time of foraging workers of L. niger also increased. 3. At constant patch quality, feeding times of L. niger and M. ruginodis increased with increasing distance of the patch from the nest entrance. 4. Foraging workers of L. fuliginosus showed a similar response to patch distance in the field, but feeding times were also significantly influenced by air temperature, decreasing as temperature increased. 5. These results show qualitative agreement with the predictions of the marginal value theorem.

A bacterium, isolated from infected tubers of calla (Zantedeschia spp.), was confirmed as a soft rot pathogen by completion of Koch's postulates and was identified as Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Jones 1901) Bergey et al. 1923. This paper confirms the identity of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora as the cause of bacterial soft rot of this important ornamental plant in New Zealand.

A field study was carried out over two seasons to investigate the effects of maturity of onions (Allium cepa L.) at harvest and different curing conditions on bulb quality and the incidence of storage rots. Onion plants were lifted at one of three stages of maturity: 10, 70, or 90% leaf collapse (top-down). Foliage was removed (topped) either before or after curing, and bulbs were subjected to one of three curing treatments: field curing with additional water, field curing without additional water, or heated forced air curing. Additional water applied during field curing increased the proportion of onions with stained skins and rots. Forced-air curing of onions reduced the incidence of rots regardless of harvest method. Forced air drying also reduced skin staining in most harvest method treatments.

The incidence and severity of soft rot, flower grades, and tuber yields of calla (Zantedeschia spp.) plants were affected by the quantity of water received during the growing season, sawdust mulch, and Enhance ® biocide applications to tubers before planting. Incidence of plants with soft rot symptoms increased at a relatively constant rate during the season reaching an average for all treatments of 61% at the end of flowering. Irrigated plus mulched callas had 15% less soft rot than the irrigation without mulch or the mulch without irrigation treatments. Yield of tubers was 90% greater from irrigated plants. Dipping tubers in Enhance ® before planting slightly reduced the severity of rotting in harvested tubers from non-irrigated plants. The total number of flowers was not affected by irrigation but was slightly reduced by sawdust mulch. However, the number of long stemmed flowers was increased 41% by irrigation, to over 1.5 per tuber.

Summary 1. The size–distance relationship among honeydew‐collecting foragers of the red wood ant Formica rufa was investigated. Within the colony territory, the size (as measured by head width) and fresh weight of samples of foragers were determined for ants ascending and descending trees near, and farther from, the central nest mound. 2. The mean size of the ants was significantly higher at far trees than at near trees in six out of the seven colonies investigated, confirming the general presence of the size–distance relationship. 3. In three colonies, a load–distance relationship was also found. For a given head width, honeydew‐carrying ants descending far trees were significantly heavier than those descending near trees (i.e. they were carrying heavier loads from trees farther away from the central nest mound). 4. This is the first time that both load–distance and size–distance relationships have been reported in foraging workers from the same ant colony. 5. The combined effects of these characteristics suggest that colony foraging efficiency is enhanced by far trees being visited by the larger workers that then return with heavier loads of honeydew.

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A survey of Integrated Fruit Production and organic apple orchards in Hawkes Bay in 201011 investigated sensitivity of Venturia inaequalis isolates to demethylation inhibitor (DMI) and dodine fungicides EC50 values from mycelial growth assays for two DMIs showed continued loss of sensitivity since the 1990s Sensitivity was lower in orchards where DMI usage exceeded resistance management guidelines The most DMIsensitive isolates were found in one organic orchard Plant inoculations showed that black spot control of myclobutanilresistant V inaequalis strains by one application of myclobutanil was only 55 compared with 99 for myclobutanilsensitive strains The study suggests that resistance to DMI fungicides has continued to develop that loss of black spot control could be expected in some orchards and that DMI resistance management guidelines need reviewing There was high sensitivity to dodine in all orchards (mean EC50 of 024 mg/litre) and no evidence of increased resistance since the 1990s