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The Vespidae is a diverse family of wasps and hornets that are formidable predators of insects, including social bees1, and includes a number of invasive species2. Recently, the world's largest hornet, Vespa mandarinia Smith (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), which occurs naturally in the Indomalayan region, has been found in Canada and the United States2. Some simulations indicate that it could rapidly spread throughout Washington and Oregon in the western US, as well as some eastern parts of the country2,3, threaten native bees and honeybees, and harm bee-pollinated crop production worth over $100 million annually3. There is consequently an urgent need to learn more about V. mandarinia's reproductive biology and to develop trapping methods to locate its nests and to control its reproduction. We identified V. mandarinia queen-produced sex pheromone from the 5th and 6th intersegmental sternal glands of virgin queens. The major active compounds were hexanoic acid, octanoic acid, and decanoic acid. When placed in field traps, the synthetic compounds and a queen-equivalent mixture rapidly attracted hundreds of males but no females or other species.

Herein, we have described a novel organocatalytic approach to access biologically important dihydropyridin-2-ones in a one-pot way with generally high yields (up to 99%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). This reaction proceeded via a new dual activation mode, including in situ-generated α,β-unsaturated acylazoliums and 4-dimethylaminopyridinium salts that underwent a Michael addition/1,4-H migration/lactamization sequence. The base-triggered 4-dimethylaminopyridinium ylide formation pathway over the competing substitution reaction pathway of vicinal haloamines is noteworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of biological invasions threatens biodiversity and food security, with the vespid family, including Vespa soror, being of particular concern. Our study focused on the alarm pheromone components of V. soror. By using gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) chemical analyses, electroantennograms, and field bioassays, we identified 5 compounds—2‐pentanol, 3‐methyl‐1‐butanol, 2‐heptanol, 2‐nonanol (2‐N), and isopentyl acetate (IPA)—in hornet sting venom that elicited defensive behavior from hornets. IPA and 2‐N also serve as alarm pheromone components in multiple honey bee species that are important prey for V. soror. This shared chemical signaling may allow cross‐detection by each species on the other's alarm cues. While it should be advantageous for bees to detect V. soror alarm pheromone, the benefits to V. soror of using IPA and 2‐N are unclear. V. soror may manipulate bee behavior, potentially distracting defenders, because they mark victim bee colonies by rubbing their abdomens, which contain their sting glands, at bee hive entrances. Our findings pose new evolutionary questions about the role of manipulation in the arms races. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dearomative [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 3‐nitroindoles ortho‐amino Morita−Baylis−Hillman carbonates was established under mild conditions. This method provides an efficient and practical approach for delivering tetrahydro‐5H‐indolo[2,3‐b]quinolines containing three contiguous stereocenters, two tertiary and one quaternary, in high yield (up to 95%) with excellent diastereoselectivity (all cases >25:1 dr). The potential synthetic applications of this strategy were also highlighted by the scale‐up experiment and further synthetic transformation. Moreover, the structure and relative configuration of the cycloadduct was unequivocally confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a response to climate changes, permafrost has deteriorated and the hydrologic process has undergone significant alterations in high-cold regions. The response mechanism still remains unknown. The characteristic contribution was calculated using the random forest (RF) algorithm, AdaBoost algorithm, and gradient-boosted decision tree (GBDT) algorithm. A comprehensive evaluation model was constructed to evaluate the contribution of climate changes to the headwaters of the Yellow River and the influence of permafrost degradation as well as climate-permafrost cooperation on runoff changes. The selected characteristic vectors were chosen as datasets for the support vector machine (SVM) and RF algorithms. A model was constructed for the prediction of permafrost degradation and runoff changes based on climate data. Results demonstrated that climate variables influencing the mean depth-to-permafrost table (DPT) were ranked according to their contributions: air temperature > evapotranspiration > wind speed > relative humidity (RHU) > sunshine duration > precipitation. The descending rank of climate and permafrost variables according to their contributions to runoff was the following: precipitation > sunshine duration > permafrost coverage > evapotranspiration > relative humidity (RHU) > mean DPT > wind speed > maximum DPT > air temperature. The model demonstrated good prediction results. The outputs can provide scientific references in applications related to water resources and the protection of ecologically vulnerable areas in high-cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]