Today I was complaining about the loss of some original and unpublished old data obtained by some retired colleagues about aphid reproduction. Unfortunately, it is frequent that original data are lost after retirement, toghether with old papers, photos and so on. This is a true damage since long term studies could become more and more difficult.
A recent good example of long term study in aphid biology (even if not the longest) has been recently published by Robert Lamb and colleague in The Canadian Entomologist. In particular, they studied the population stability of Baizongia pistaciae (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on its primary host, the tree Pistacia palaestina Boissier (Anachardiaceae), using 17–20 years of data from a study of gall abundance on individual trees in Israel.
Abundance varied by at least an order of magnitude among adjacent trees, among locations, and among years, but the population variability (PV) was similar among populations, suggesting this parameter is characteristic of the species, although positive correlations between cohorts on a tree showed that PV was affected by the site-specific tree–grass habitats in which this species lives.
Lamb, R., MacKay, P., & Wool, D. (2012). Population stability of a tree-galling aphid, Baizongia pistaciae, at three spatial scales The Canadian Entomologist, 1-13 DOI: 10.4039/tce.2012.42
[...] a previous post I was complaining about the poor conservation of data in some laboratories, also including [...]