This book presents visual plant defenses (camouflage, mimicry and aposematism via coloration, morphology and even movement) against herbivores. It is mainly an ideological monograph, a manifesto representing my current understanding on defensive plant coloration and related issues. The book is not the final word in anything, but rather the beginning of many things. It aims to establish visual anti-herbivory defense as an integral organ of botany, or plant science as it is commonly called today. I think that like in animals, many types of plant coloration can be explained by selection associated with the sensory/cognitive systems of herbivores and predators to reduce herbivory. It is intended to intrigue and stimulate students of botany/plant science and plant/animal interactions for a very long time. This book is tailored to a readership of biologists and naturalists of all kinds and levels, and more specifically for botanists, ecologists, evolutionists and to those interested in plant/animal interactions. It is written from the point of view of a naturalist, ecologist and evolutionary biologist that I hold, considering natural selection as the main although not the only drive for evolution. According to this perspective, factors such as chance, founder effects, genetic drift and various stochastic processes that may and do influence characters found in specific genotypes, are not comparable in their power and influence to the common outcomes of natural selection, especially manifested when very many species belonging to different plant families, with very different and separate evolutionary histories, arrive at the same adaptation, something that characterizes many of the visual patterns and proposed adaptations described and discussed in this book. Many of the discussed visual defensive mechanisms are aimed at operating before the plants are damaged, i.e., to be their first line of defense. In this respect, I think that the name of the book by Ruxton et al. (2004) "Avoiding Attack" is an excellent phrase for the assembly of the best types of defensive tactics. While discussing anti-herbivory, I do remember, study and teach physiological/developmental aspects of some of the discussed coloration patterns, and I am fully aware of the simultaneous and diverse functions of many plant characters in addition to defense.

Insect Hearing provides a broadly based view of the functions, mechanisms, and evolution of hearing in insects. With a single exception, the chapters focus on problems of hearing and their solutions, rather than being focused on particular taxa. The exception, hearing in Drosophila, is justified because, due to its ever growing toolbox of genetic and optical techniques, Drosophila is rapidly becoming one of the most important model systems in neurobiology, including the neurobiology of hearing. Auditory systems, whether insectan or vertebrate, must perform a number of basic tasks: capturing mechanical stimuli and transducing these into neural activity, representing the timing and frequency of sound signals, distinguishing between behaviorally relevant signals and other sounds and localizing sound sources. Studying how these are accomplished in insects offers a valuable comparative view that helps to reveal general principles of auditory function.

This overview of the roles of alien species in insect conservation brings together information, evidence and examples from many parts of the world to illustrate their impacts (often severe, but in many cases poorly understood and unpredictable) as one of the primary drivers of species declines, ecological changes and biotic homogenisation. Both accidental and deliberate movements of species are involved, with alien invasive plants and insects the major groups of concern for their influences on native insects and their environments. Risk assessments, stimulated largely through fears of non-target impacts of classical biological control agents introduced for pest management, have provided valuable lessons for wider conservation biology. They emphasise the needs for effective biosecurity, risk avoidance and minimisation, and evaluation and management of alien invasive species as both major components of many insect species conservation programmes and harbingers of change in invaded communities. The spread of highly adaptable ecological generalist invasive species, which are commonly difficult to detect or monitor, can be linked to declines and losses of numerous localised ecologically specialised insects and disruptions to intricate ecological interactions and functions, and create novel interactions with far-reaching consequences for the receiving environments. Understanding invasion processes and predicting impacts of alien species on susceptible native insects is an important theme in practical insect conservation.

Arthropods are invertebrates that constitute over 90% of the animal kingdom, and their bio-ecology is closely linked with global functioning and survival. Arthropods play an important role in maintaining the health of ecosystems, provide livelihoods and nutrition to human communities, and are important indicators of environmental change. Yet the population trends of several arthropods species show them to be in decline. Arthropods constitute a dominant group with 1.2 million species influencing earth's biodiversity. Among arthropods, insects are predominant, with ca. 1 million species and having evolved some 350 million years ago. Arthropods are closely associated with living and non-living entities alike, making the ecosystem services they provide crucially important. In order to be effective, plans for the conservation of arthropods and ecosystems should include a mixture of strategies like protecting key habitats and genomic studies to formulate relevant policies for in situ and ex situ conservation. This two-volume book focuses on capturing the essentials of arthropod inventories, biology, and conservation.Further, it seeks to identify the mechanisms by which arthropod populations can be sustained in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and by means of which certain problematic species be managed without producing harmful environmental side-effects. This edited compilation includes chapters contributed by over 80 biologists on a wide range of topics embracing the diversity, distribution, utility and conservation of arthropods and select groups of insect taxa. More importantly, it describes in detail the mechanisms of sustaining arthropod ecosystems, services and populations. It addresses the contribution of modern biological tools such as molecular and genetic techniques regulating gene expression, as well as conventional, indigenous practices in arthropod conservation. The contributors reiterate the importance of documenting and understanding the biology of arthropods from a holistic perspective before addressing conservation issues at large. This book offers a valuable resource for all zoologists, entomologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, policy makers, teachers and students interested in the conservation of biological resources.

Arthropods are invertebrates that constitute over 90% of the animal kingdom, and their bio-ecology is closely linked with global functioning and survival. Arthropods play an important role in maintaining the health of ecosystems, provide livelihoods and nutrition to human communities, and are important indicators of environmental change. Yet the population trends of several arthropods species show them to be in decline. Arthropods constitute a dominant group with 1.2 million species influencing earth's biodiversity. Among arthropods, insects are predominant, with ca. 1 million species and having evolved some 350 million years ago. Arthropods are closely associated with living and non-living entities alike, making the ecosystem services they provide crucially important. In order to be effective, plans for the conservation of arthropods and ecosystems should include a mixture of strategies like protecting key habitats and genomic studies to formulate relevant policies for in situ and ex situ conservation. This two-volume book focuses on capturing the essentials of arthropod inventories, biology, and conservation. Further, it seeks to identify the mechanisms by which arthropod populations can be sustained in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and by means of which certain problematic species be managed without producing harmful environmental side-effects. This edited compilation includes chapters contributed by over 80 biologists on a wide range of topics embracing the diversity, distribution, utility and conservation of arthropods and select groups of insect taxa. More importantly, it describes in detail the mechanisms of sustaining arthropod ecosystems, services and populations. It addresses the contribution of modern biological tools such as molecular and genetic techniques regulating gene expression, as well as conventional, indigenous practices in arthropod conservation. The contributors reiterate the importance of documenting and understanding the biology of arthropods from a holistic perspective before addressing conservation issues at large. This book offers a valuable resource for all zoologists, entomologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, policy makers, teachers and students interested in the conservation of biological resources.

This book covers advanced concepts and creative ideas with regard to insect biorational control and insecticide resistance management. Some chapters present and summarize general strategies or tactics for managing insect pests such as the principles of IPM in various crop systems and biorational control of insect pests, advances in organic farming, alternative strategies for controlling orchard and field-crop pests. Other chapters cover alternative methods for controlling pests such as disruption of insect reproductive systems and utilization of semiochemicals and diatomaceous earth formulations, and developing bioacoustic methods for mating disruption. Another part is devoted to insecticide resistance: mechanisms and novel approaches for managing insect resistance in agriculture and in public health.

Southern Africa has a particularly rich and varied insect fauna of 26 orders, 579 families and about 80 000 species currently recorded. The wealth of information on the systematics and biology of southern African insect groups has not been comprehensively treated before and is here condensed by 48 contributors, each of whom is an authority on a particular group. A work of this nature requires a balance between scientific accuracy and utility so that the information will be easily accessible and comprehensible to professional and amateur entomologists alike. In this work, the scientist will find enough general information to lead him or her to more detailed works while the amateur entomologist will find sufficient explanation in the text, beautiful colour illustrations and glossary.

Insect and disease issues are often specific to the Mediterranean forest systems rather than shared with the temperate forests. In addition to the specific native insects and diseases, the forests are subject to the invasion of exotic species. The forests are also at risk from high degrees of human activity, including changing patterns of forest fires, land management activities, intensive plantation forestry using introduced timber species from other Mediterranean climate zones, and atmospheric deposition. Combined with elements of global climate change that may disproportionately affect Mediterranean climate systems, this creates a number of significant management issues that are unique to the Mediterranean forests. It is our goal that the information contained in this volume will contribute to understanding the unique aspects of Mediterranean forest systems and to protecting these critical resources.

In medical and health care the scientific method is little used, and statistical software programs are experienced as black box programs producing lots of p-values, but little answers to scientific questions. The pocket calculator analyses appears to be, particularly, appreciated, because they enable medical and health professionals and students for the first time to understand the scientific methods of statistical reasoning and hypothesis testing. So much so, that it can start something like a new dimension in their professional world. In addition, a number of statistical methods like power calculations and required sample size calculations can be performed more easily on a pocket calculator, than using a software program. Also, there are some specific advantages of the pocket calculator method. You better understand what you are doing. The pocket calculator works faster, because far less steps have to be taken, averages can be used. The current nonmathematical book is complementary to the nonmathematical "SPSS for Starters and 2nd Levelers" (Springer Heidelberg Germany 2015, from the same authors), and can very well be used as its daily companion.

Thanks to the application of new technologies such as whole-genome sequencing, analysis of transcriptome and proteome of insect pest to agriculture, great progress has been made in understanding the life style, reproduction, evolution and nuisance to crops caused by insect pests such as aphids, planthoppers, and whiteflies. We believe that time has come to summarize progress and to have a glance over the horizon. In this Book experts in the field discuss novel means to increase the different kinds of resistances of plants to better limit the effects of pest, to understand and disturb the hormonal regulation of embryogenesis, molting, metamorphosis and reproduction, to determine the function of insect genes in diverse processes such as metabolism, interaction with plants, virus transmission, development, and adaptation to a changing environment. The knowledge presented here is discussed with the aim of further improving control strategies of insect pestsman";mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:NL;mso-fareast-language:NL;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">.

'If you thought butterflies were special, the clear intelligible science in this superb page-turner will make you realise they're ultra-special' - MATTHEW OATES This new addition to the British Wildlife Collection is a unique take on butterfly behaviour and ecology, written by the former Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation, Martin Warren. It explores the secret lives of our British species (also drawing on comparative examples from continental Europe), revealing how they have become adapted to survive in such a highly competitive natural world. Combining personal anecdote with the latest discoveries in the scientific literature, this book covers everything from why we love butterflies and their life-cycle from egg to adult, to their struggle for survival in a world of predators and parasites and the miracle of migration. The final chapters explore how butterflies are recorded, the change in their ranges and abundance during the 20th and 21st centuries, and the significance of managing habitats at a landscape scale, concluding with a passionate plea for why we must act now to reverse butterfly declines. Insightful, inspiring and a joy to read, Butterflies is the culmination of a lifetime of careful research into what makes these beautiful insects tick and how and why we must conserve them.

Inchworms, tiger moths, underwings, owlet moths, silkworms,sphinx moths, grass moths, and butterflies. Collectively, these and many others are the Lepidoptera, one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet. Lepidoptera can be found in the highest tropical canopies,the driest deserts, and at the leading edge of science. The adults include some of the most beautiful insects that have inspired artists and have sailed through the dreams of human cultures for millennia. The immature stages ("caterpillars"), like the underwing depicted on the cover, link together vital processes in diverse terrestrial ecosystems that are only barely documented let alone understood. The people that study these animals are lepidopterists, and the goal of this book is to introduce them with their own words. In twenty chapters, lepidopterists tell their stories, and these tales mirror the diversity of nature in their range and depth. You will find individuals that wrestle with the challenges of scientific careers, stories of far flung travel sand close calls, and historical perspectives on recent decades of scientific break throughs.

Chelicerates do not possess dedicated antennae like the Mandibulata but have evolved their second sets of appendages into the eponymous chelicerae. In scorpions, pectines are specialized comb-like structures, located on the ninth body segment, used for examining the substrate for chemo- and mechanosensory signals. The comb teeth, or pegs, are truncated beveled structures facing the substrate for probing, and are studded with numerous sensory receptors. Afferents from the pectines project into a distinct neuropil of the central nervous system, located behind the fourth walking leg neuropils. Denise Drozd analyzes afferents of single pegs in Mesobuthus eupeus by backfilling, combined with immunohistological labeling of neuropil regions. Her results suggest a topographic representation of the chemosensory fibers within the pectine neuropil instead of the typical chemotopic representation.

This book brings together expert opinions from scientists to consider the evidence for climate change and its impacts on ticks and tick-borne infections. It considers what is meant by 'climate change', how effective climate models are in relation to ecosystems, and provides predictions for changes in climate at global, regional and local scales relevant for ticks and tick-borne infections. It examines changes to tick distribution and the evidence that climate change is responsible. The effect of climate on the physiology and behaviour of ticks is stressed, including potentially critical impacts on the tick microbiome. Given that the notoriety of ticks derives from pathogens they transmit, the book considers whether changes in climate affect vector capacity. Ticks transmit a remarkable range of micro- and macro-parasites many of which are pathogens of humans and domesticated animals. The intimacy between a tick-borne agent and a tick vector means that any impacts of climate on a tick vector will impact tick-borne pathogens. Most obviously, such impacts will be apparent as changes in disease incidence and prevalence. The evidence that climate change is affecting diseases caused by tick-borne pathogens is considered, along with the potential to make robust predictions of future events. This book contains: Expert opinions and predictions. Global coverage of trends in ticks and disease. In-depth examination of climate change and tick distribution links. This book is suitable for researchers and students studying zoology, biological sciences, medical entomology, animal health, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, parasitology, and climate change impacts; and for those concerned with public health planning or livestock management where ticks and tick-borne pathogens pose a threat.

Wetlands are among the world's most valuable and most threatened habitats, and in these crucially important ecosystems, the invertebrate fauna holds a focal position. Most of the biological diversity in wetlands is found within resident invertebrate assemblages, and those invertebrates are the primary trophic link between lower plants and higher vertebrates (e.g. amphibians, fish, and birds). As such, most scientists, managers, consultants, and students who work in the world's wetlands should become better informed about the invertebrate components in their habitats of interest. Our book serves to fill this need by assembling the world's most prominent ecologists working on freshwater wetland invertebrates, and having them provide authoritative perspectives on each the world's most important freshwater wetland types. The initial chapter of the book provides a primer on freshwater wetland invertebrates, including how they are uniquely adapted for life in wetland environments and how they contribute to important ecological functions in wetland ecosystems. The next 15 chapters deal with invertebrates in the major wetlands across the globe (rock pools, alpine ponds, temperate temporary ponds, Mediterranean temporary ponds, turloughs, peatlands, permanent marshes, Great Lakes marshes, Everglades, springs, beaver ponds, temperate floodplains, neotropical floodplains, created wetlands, waterfowl marshes), each chapter written by groups of prominent scientists intimately knowledgeable about the individual wetland types. Each chapter reviews the relevant literature, provides a synthesis of the most important ecological controls on the resident invertebrate fauna, and highlights important conservation concerns. The final chapter synthesizes the 15 habitat-based chapters, providing a macroscopic perspective on natural variation of invertebrate assemblage structure across the world's wetlands and a paradigm for understanding how global variation and environmental factors shape wetland invertebrate communities.

The first edition of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe was a ground-breaking identification guide that led to an increase in Odonata recording across Europe. The second edition includes fully revised regional guides and identification texts, updated distribution maps and conservation statuses, illustrated accounts for five species that have been discovered in the region since the first edition, updated checklists and taxonomy, new photographs throughout, as well as an introduction to larvae identification. Each species is lavishly illustrated with artworks of males, females and variations, as well as close-ups of important characters.

Throughout Asia, Australia and the Pacific, and increasingly in Africa, the primary horticultural insect pests are fruit flies belonging to the genera Bactrocera, Zeugodacus and Dacus (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini). The Dacini is a hugely diverse clade of nearly 900 species endemic to the rainforests of Asia, Australia and the western Pacific, and the savannas and woodlands of Africa. All these species lay their eggs into fleshy fruits and vegetables, where the maggots feed, therefore destroying the fruit. In addition to being crop pests, dacines are also invasive pests of major quarantine importance and their presence in production areas can significantly impact market access opportunities. This broad text provides a rapid introduction to this economically and ecologically important group, which includes species such as the Oriental fruit fly (B. dorsalis), Melon fly (Z. cucurbitae), Queensland fruit fly (B. tryoni) and the Olive fly (B. oleae). Broken into three primary sections, it first explores the evolutionary history, systematic relationships, taxonomy and species-level diagnosis of the Dacini flies. The following biology section covers their life history, population demography, behaviour and ecology, and natural enemies. The final section of the book covers the management of these flies, with chapters on pre-harvest, post-harvest and regulatory controls. Each chapter concludes with a list of key monographs, papers or book chapters for further reading. This book will be of interest to field entomologists, extension officers, quarantine officers and market access negotiators, as well as students of applied entomology and pest management.

This order once encompassed all insects with a complex network of wing veins, regardless of whether their metamorphosis was incomplete or complete. By the early 20th century, most of the species had been transferred to new orders, leaving only a small percentage of the insects once assigned to the Neuroptera remaining in that order. By the second half of the 20th century, some of the taxonomists began to believe that the fragmentation of this order had gone too far, and that the order Megaloptera needed to be grouped in some way with Neuroptera, either by making them suborders of the same order or by creating a superorder to accommodate both. This volume provides a discussion of both taxa, tentatively regrouping both in the order Neuroptera. While all known species of Megaloptera in South America have completely aquatic larval stages, few species in the suborder Planipennia, formerly called Neuroptera sensu stricto, are aquatic during any of their life stages. The most interesting of the exceptions are species in the family Sisyridae, some of which develop as larvae inside freshwater sponges.Because only a relatively small number of species are still included in Neuroptera sensu lato, this book provides keys to all known South American species that have been described well enough to be identified with any degree of certainty. Many species in the family Chloropidae, the neuropteran family with the greatest number of recognized species in South America, have proven to be valuable as biological controls for insect pests in agriculture. Their importance for tropical agriculture is another reason for including terrestrial species in this book. The series will continue with volumes providing keys to identify species of other South American orders, but in most cases, only aquatic insects can be included in the keys to the species.

A comprehensive survey of insects and terrestrial invertebrates referred to by Greek and Roman authors from the earliest times to AD 600. Explains the extent and accuracy of their knowledge compared to current beliefs, and discusses the role of each animal type in classical life, for example popular

Acarology - the study of mites and ticks, is a subdiscipline of Zoology, and is many times considered in the field of Entomology (the study of insects). Mites and ticks are distributed throughout the world and inhabit almost every ecosystem (both terrestrial and aquatic) including grassland soils. More than 55,000 species of mites and ticks are already described. Mites and ticks directly affects humans as pests of different crops, fruit plants, vegetable crops and field crops; as parasites of human beings, veterinary animals, poultry and pets; pests of stored grains and other products; mushrooms and cheese; and as parasites of honeybees. Mite infestations are responsible for economic losses worth billions of dollars in terms of reduced crop yields and lowered quality of produce. Many species of mites serve as vectors of various plant diseases; some species of ticks cause losses through blood feeding and by transmitting many diseases among man and animals. House-dust mite allergies, and tick bite allergies are also common in many parts of the world.Present Book, "Fundamentals of Applied Acarology," is written keeping in view non-availability of any standard text dealing in different aspects of acarology at one place. Separate chapters in this book are devoted to Importance of Acarology, Historical account, acarine technology, morphology and anatomy of Acari; Feeding, Development and Reproduction. Molecular developments in relation to mites and ticks are also discussed. Role of mites and ticks in Quarantines of plants and animals; forensic/criminal investigations; and importance of accidental acarophagy are discussed in detail. Safe usage of pesticides based on their mode of action (IRAC's Groups), development of acaricide resistance and measures to mitigate it are discussed. Mite pests of fruit trees, vegetable plants, and floricultural plants; field crops; mite problems in greenhouses/polyhouses; and mite problems encountered under organic cultivation of plants; and their management through minimum usage of pesticides are emphasized. Role of different predaceous mites in controlling plant pests like thrips, aphids and scale insects is elaborately discussed. Biological control of phytophagous mites is discussed in detail. Different animal parasitic mites and ticks are discussed from veterinary and medical point of view.At the end of each chapter, many important references for further reading; and Electronic References (ER) in the form of youtube links and other weblinks are given to understand fully how these tiny creatures look like; behave, feed and reproduce; nature of damage they cause to plants and animals; and measures to mitigate them. Weblinks will stimulate interest in the readers for more information about different mites and ticks. The knowledge contained in the book may prove as best material for "General and Applied Acarology" course for graduate and post-graduate levels, teachers and researchers in entomology, pest control advisors, professional entomologists, pesticide industry managers, policy planners, and others having interest in mites and ticks.

Winner of the Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences A world-renowned researcher of animal behavior reveals the extraordinary orienteering skills of desert ants, offering a thrilling account of the sophisticated ways insects function in their natural environments. Cataglyphis desert ants are agile ultrarunners who can tolerate near-lethal temperatures when they forage in the hot midday sun. But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, Rudiger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it. Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic "snapshots" of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation. Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks.

In Virus-Insect-Plant Interactions, the world's leading scientists discuss the latest breakthroughs in understanding the biological and ecological factors that define these complex transmission systems and how this knowledge might be used to our advantage in producing innovative, user and environmentally friendly approaches to controlling the spread of plant pathogens by insects. This is an invaluable reference work for researchers, teachers, and students. There are many quick-reference figures and tables, the contents pages include individual chapter abstracts, and each chapter ends with its own bibliography.
Key Features
* presents the most significant research breakthroughs of the past two decades
* contains eighteen chapters by forty-two world-renowned researchers
* invaluable reference work for researchers, teachers and students
* each chapter ends with its own bibliography
* contents pages of forematter include individual chapter abstracts
* contains many quick-reference figures and tables

Nematodes are incontestably the most numerous and the most diverse metazoans in freshwater habitats, and these properties bestow exceptional significance to their role in the environment. An array of functional roles has been attributed to them: they are grazers on bacteria and primary producers, regulators of decomposition of plant material, predators, prey for other animals, and closely associated symbionts of bacteria and other organisms. Freshwater nematodes are central in the context of environmental monitoring, pollution assessments, global warming and food webs, and this is increasingly being recognized. Moreover, the short generation time (a few days to months) of many species makes nematodes ideal for laboratory studies. This book: Provides a follow-up to Freshwater Nematodes: Ecology and Taxonomy (2006). Offers guidelines for studying the ecology of free-living nematodes, including detailed protocols and case studies. Promotes free-living nematodes as model organisms for studies in a broad range of research fields. Despite the recognized importance of nematodes across ecosystems, many species of free-living nematodes have yet to be discovered, and essential knowledge gaps remain. Ecology of Freshwater Nematodes provides an overview of research efforts in this field, and is an important resource for researchers in the field of nematology and ecology.