Chemical signals mediate all aspects of insects' lives and their ecological interactions. The discipline of chemical ecology seeks to unravel these interactions by identifying and defining the chemicals involved, and documenting how perception of these chemical mediators modifies behaviour and ultimately reproductive success. Chapters in this 2004 volume consider how plants use chemicals to defend themselves from insect herbivores; the complexity of floral odors that mediate insect pollination; tritrophic interactions of plants, herbivores, and parasitoids and the chemical cues that parasitoids use to find their herbivore hosts; the semiochemically mediated behaviours of mites; pheromone communication in spiders and cockroaches; the ecological dependency of tiger moths on the chemistry of their host-plants; and the selective forces that shape the pheromone communication channel of moths. The volume presents descriptions of the chemicals involved, the effects of semiochemically mediated interactions on reproductive success, and the evolutionary pathways that have shaped the chemical ecology of arthropods.

Our objective in compiling a series of chapters on the chemical ecology of insects has been to delineate the major concepts of this discipline. The fine line between presenting a few topics in great detail or many topics in veneer has been carefully drawn, such that the book contains sufficient diversity to cover the field and a few topics in some depth. After the reader has penetrated the crust of what has been learned about chemical ecology of insects, the deficiencies in our understanding of this field should become evident. These deficiencies, to which no chapter topic is immune, indicate the youthful state of chemical ecology and the need for further investigations, especially those with potential for integrating elements that are presently isolated from each other. At the outset of this volume it becomes evident that, although we are beginning to decipher how receptor cells work, virtually nothing is known of how sensory information is coded to become relevant to the insect and to control the behavior of the insect. This problem is exacerbated by the state of our knowledge of how chemicals are distributed in nature, especially in complex habitats. And finally, we have been unable to understand the significance of orientation pathways of insects, in part because of the two previous problems: orientation seems to depend on patterns of distri bution of chemicals, the coding of these patterns by the central nervous system, and the generation of motor output based on the resulting motor commands.

Chemical signals mediate all aspects of insects' lives and their ecological interactions. The discipline of chemical ecology seeks to unravel these interactions by identifying and defining the chemicals involved, and documenting how perception of these chemical mediators modifies behaviour and ultimately reproductive success. Chapters in this 2004 volume consider how plants use chemicals to defend themselves from insect herbivores; the complexity of floral odors that mediate insect pollination; tritrophic interactions of plants, herbivores, and parasitoids and the chemical cues that parasitoids use to find their herbivore hosts; the semiochemically mediated behaviours of mites; pheromone communication in spiders and cockroaches; the ecological dependency of tiger moths on the chemistry of their host-plants; and the selective forces that shape the pheromone communication channel of moths. The volume presents descriptions of the chemicals involved, the effects of semiochemically mediated interactions on reproductive success, and the evolutionary pathways that have shaped the chemical ecology of arthropods.

As we follow the path of a giant water bug or peer over the wing of a gypsy moth, we glimpse our world anew, at once shrunk and magnified. Owing to their size alone, insects' experience of the world is radically different from ours. Air to them is as viscous as water to us. The predicament of size, along with the dizzying diversity of insects and their status as arguably the most successful organisms on earth, have inspired passion and eloquence in some of the world's most innovative scientists. A World of Insects showcases classic works on insect behavior, physiology, and ecology published over half a century by Harvard University Press. James Costa, Vincent Dethier, Thomas Eisner, Lee Goff, Bernd Heinrich, Bert Hoelldobler, Kenneth Roeder, Andrew Ross, Thomas Seeley, Karl von Frisch, Gilbert Waldbauer, E. O. Wilson, and Mark Winston-each writer, in his unique voice, paints a close-up portrait of the ways insects explore their environment, outmaneuver their enemies, mate, and care for kin. Selected by two world-class entomologists, these essays offer compelling descriptions of insect cooperation and warfare, the search for ancient insect DNA in amber, and the energy economics of hot-blooded insects. They also discuss the impact-for good and ill-of insects on our food supply, their role in crime scene investigation, and the popular fascination with pheromones, killer bees, and fire ants. Each entry begins with commentary on the authors, their topics, and the latest research in the field.