Front Cover -- Titelseite -- Impressum -- Contents -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Terrestrial ecosystems and ecosystem engineers -- 1.2 Biology of Lumbricus terrestris -- 1.3 Biogeography of Lumbricus terrestris -- 1.4 AFLPs -- 1.5 Objectives -- 2 Material and Methods -- 2.1 Sampling locations and geographic data -- 2.2 Sampling of Lumbricus terrestris -- 2.3 Isolation of DNA -- 2.4 AFLP -- 2.4.1 Production of AFLP fingerprints -- 2.4.2 Scoring of AFLP fingerprints -- 2.4.3 Analysis of AFLP data -- 3 Results -- 3.1 General AFLP results -- 3.2 Genetic Diversity -- 3.3 Genetic differentiation -- 3.3.1 Comparison between interindividual distances within and between sampling locations -- 3.3.2 Comparison between genetic and geographic distances - Mantel test -- 3.3.3 Comparison between genetic and geographic distances- Distograms -- 3.3.4 Pairwise distances between sampling locations -- 3.3.5 Genetic boundaries -- 3.3.6 Quantification of overall differantiation -- 3.3.7 Arrangements of regions tested with AMOVA -- 4 Discussion -- 4.1 AFLP in Lumbricus terrestris -- 4.2 Genetic diversity -- 4.3 Genetic differentiation -- 4.4 Postglacial recolonization of Europe by Lumbricus terrestris -- 4.5 Conclusion -- 5 Summary -- Bibliography -- Appendix -- Acknowledgements -- Zusammenfassung -- Back cover.

Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens, Second Edition explores the latest advancements and technologies for large-scale rearing and manipulation of natural enemies while presenting ways of improving success rate, predictability of biological control procedures, and demonstrating their safe and effective use. Organized into three sections, Parasitoids and Predators, Pathogens, and Invertebrates for Other Applications, this second edition contains important new information on production technology of predatory mites and hymenopteran parasitoids for biological control, application of insects in the food industry and production methods of insects for feed and food, and production of bumble bees for pollination.Beneficial organisms include not only insect predators and parasitoids, but also mite predators, nematodes, fungi, bacteria and viruses. In the past two decades, tremendous advances have been achieved in developing technology for producing these organisms. Despite that and the globally growing research and interest in biological control and biotechnology applications, commercialization of these technologies is still in progress. This is an essential reference and teaching tool for researchers in developed and developing countries working to produce "natural enemies in biological control and integrated pest management programs. - Highlights the most advanced and current techniques for mass production of beneficial organisms and methods of evaluation and quality assessment - Presents methods for developing artificial diets and reviews the evaluation and assurance of the quality of mass-produced arthropods - Provides an outlook of the growing industry of insects as food and feed and describes methods for mass producing the most important insect species used as animal food and food ingredients

Earthworms, which belong to the order Oligochaeta, comprise roughly 3,000 species grouped into five families. Earthworms have been called ‘ecosystem engineers’; much like human engineers, they change the structure of their environments. Earthworms are very versatile and are found in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems. They play an important role in forest and agricultural ecosystems. This Soil Biology volume describes the various facets of earthworms, such as their role in soil improvement, soil structure, and the biocontrol of soil-borne plant fungal diseases. Reviews discuss earthworms’ innate immune system, molecular markers to address various issues of earthworm ecology, earthworm population dynamics, and the influences of organic farming systems and tillage. Further topics include the characteristics of vermicompost, relationships between soil earthworms and enzymes, the role of spermathecae, copulatory behavior, and adjustment of the donated sperm volume.

Earthworm Ecology, Second Edition updates the most comprehensive work available on earthworm ecology with extensive revisions of the original chapters. New chapters analyze the history of earthworm research, the importance of earthworms as representatives of soil fauna and how they affect plant growth, the effects of the invasion of exotic earthworms into North America and other regions, and vermiculture and vermicomposting in Europe.This well-illustrated, expansive study examines the important and often overlooked impact earthworms have on the environment. It discusses the impact of climate, soil properties, predation, disease and parasitism, and competition upon earthworm ecology.

Earthworms and their environment; The physical environment; Phenology; Populations and association; Ecological energetics; Predators, parasites and pathogens; Dispersal; Altitudinal zonation; Physical effects on soils; chemical effects on soils; Earthworms and pedogenesis; Earthworms and plant growth; Earthworms and land use practices; Use of earthworms for waste disposal; Earthworms; as a protein source.

Soil invertebrates make up diverse communities living in soil pores and on the soil surface, digging burrows and tunnels, processing organic matter and interacting with microbes. Soil is also a habitat of growing concern as many human activities cause soil degradation. This book documents the evolutionary history of soil invertebrates and their multitude of adaptations. Soil invertebrates live in a twilight zone: some have gone down to seek stability, constancy and rest, others have gone up and faced environmental variation, heat, cold and activity. And it all happens in a few decimetres, millimetres sometimes. Check out the wonderful life below ground in this book.

"Wallace, together with Darwin was the founder of modern evolutionary theory, and when Darwin received Wallace's paper of 1858 (a year before the publication of the Origin of Species), he wrote to Lyell "All my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed"."I never saw a more striking coincidence.Your words (referring to Lyell's earlier warnings that Darwin might be anticipated) have come true with a vengeance." In 1858 Wallace was already preparing an announcement of an importent zoogeographical discovery, which proposed a boundary line dividing the archipelago of Indo-Malayan and Australian zoological regions. The culmination of Wallace's approach was achieved in his monumental two-volume "The geographical Distribution." and it is a pioneer-work in zoogeography."--Abebooks website.