This book provides practical ecological, ethological, evolutionary, and biogeographic data for gall-inducing cecidomyiids, their galls and host plants, based on field surveys, laboratory experiments and genetic analysis. It refers to various researches on gall-inducing insects published by a world of biologists. Practical methods of field surveys and data analysis are presented, as well as topics on parasitoids, invasive pests, and beneficial gall midges that would be useful for applied entomologists. Readers can learn an ecological way of thinking through diverse interrelations between insects and plants, and the analysis of ecological data from gall-inducing cecidomyiids. Galls can be easily observed in the field continuously from early to final stage of the development of galls and gall inducers because of their outstanding features and immobility. It provides important data of the host plant such as phenology, abundance as food resources, and the survival of galled organs. By taking these advantages, many biologists have used galls and gall-inducing insects as highly convenient organisms for a wide range of studies including ecology, ethology, evolution, and biogeography. The book primarily intends to present the appeal of galls and gall-inducing insects for various biological studies. In particular, gall-inducing cecidomyiids are ideal insects to study ecology and evolution. It helps to open the doors to further cryptic study subjects. Also, integrating various ecological, ethological, evolutionary and biogeographic data as shown in this book can serve to further advance the macroevolutionary studies of insects.

This book addresses recent developments in the ecology, evolution, systematics, physiology, and biodiversity of gall-inducing arthropods, with individual contributions ranging in scope from detailed descriptions to profoundly synthetic studies. One underlying theme is the various impacts of gall induction that indirectly affect insect communities on the host plant. The other important contribution is the highly intricate and dynamic interactions between galling arthropods and their uniquely specialized host plants.

This publication explores many facets of the ever intriguing and enigmatic relationships between plants and their gall-forming herbivores. The research reported herein ranges from studies on classical biology and systematics of galling to molecular phylogeny, population genetics, and ecological and evolutionary theory. Human kind has much to learn and gain from understanding the fine details of how plants and their gallers interact. This publication is the result of an international symposium that was held August, 1997 in Hungary. It was organized under the guidelines of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations by the Hungarian Forest Research Institute, Department of Forest Protection, and the North Central Research Station of the US Forest Service.