?This handbook, 39 years in the making, is a guide to the identification of 300 species of adult fruit flies found in North America. It is written by recognized authorities and should prove to be a standard identification guide for years to come.?--ARBA

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are among the most destructive agricultural pests in the world, eating their way through acres and acres of citrus and other fruits at an alarming rate and forcing food and agriculture agencies to spend millions of dollars in control and management measures. But until now, the study of fruit flies has been traditi

This Encyclopedia of Tropical Biology and Conservation Management is a component of the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Tropical environments cover the most part of still preserved natural areas of the Earth. The greatest biodiversity, as in terms of animals and plants, as microorganisms, is placed in these hot and rainy ecosystems spread up and below the Equator line. Additionally, the most part of food products, with vegetal or animal origin, that sustain nowadays human beings is direct or undirected dependent of tropical productivity. Biodiversity should be looked at and evaluated not only in terms of numbers of species, but also in terms of the diversity of interactions among distinct organisms that it maintains. In this sense, the complexity of web structure in tropical systems is a promise of future to nature preservation on Earth. In the chemicals of tropical plant and animals, could be the cure to infinite number of diseases, new food sources, and who knows what more. Despite these facts tropical areas have been exploited in an irresponsible way for more than 500 years due the lack of an ecological conscience of men. Exactly in the same way we did with temperate areas and also tropical areas in the north of Equator line. Nowadays, is estimated that due human exploitation, nation conflicts and social problems, less than 8% of tropical nature inside continental areas is still now untouchable. The extension of damage in the tropical areas of oceans is unknown. Thus so, all knowledge we could accumulate about tropical systems will help us, as in the preservations of these important and threatened ecosystems as in a future recuperation, when it was possible. Only knowing the past and developing culture, mainly that directed to peace, to a better relationship among nations and responsible use and preservation of natural resources, human beings will have a long future on Earth. These volumes, Tropical Biology and Natural Resources was divided in sessions to provide the reader the better comprehension possible of issue and also to enable future complementation and improvements in the encyclopedia. Like we work with life, we intended to transform this encyclopedia also in a “life” volume, in what new information could be added in any time. As president of the encyclopedia and main editor I opened the theme with an article titled: “Tropical Biology and Natural resources: Historical Pathways and Perspectives”, providing the reader an initial view of the origins of human knowledge about the tropical life, and what we hope to the future. In the sequence we have more than 100 chapters distributed in tem sessions: Tropical Ecology (TE); Tropical Botany (TB); Tropical Zoology (TZ); Savannah Ecosystems (SE); Desert Ecosystems (DE); Tropical Agriculture (TA); Natural History of Tropical Plants (NH); Human Impact on Tropical Ecosystems (HI); Tropical Phytopathology and Entomology (TPE); Case Studies (CS). This 11-volume set contains several chapters, each of size 5000-30000 words, with perspectives, applications and extensive illustrations. It is the only publication of its kind carrying state-of-the-art knowledge in the fields of Tropical Biology and Conservation Management and is aimed, by virtue of the several applications, at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students, Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers and NGOs.

A book of national and international importance, Fruit Fly Pests is an exhaustive compendium of information (with data provided by more than 100 contributors) that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. With huge losses experienced annually from fruit fly devastation, information on these high-profile insects is important to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, marketing exporters, government regulatory agencies, and the scientific community. Fruit flies impose a considerable resource tax, and the ones who suffer range from shippers to end users. The demand for world-wide plant protection requires up-to-date research information. This book meets that need. This book contains the proceedings from the most recent International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance. Here you will find the major presentations given at the symposium, with an added feature - overviews from experts on topics not covered directly by participants in the symposium, filling in gaps in the current literature. The resulting publication is the most up-to-date and readable text to be found anywhere on the subject of tephritids.

This text brings together fundamental information on insect taxa, morphology, ecology, behavior, physiology, and genetics. Close relatives of insects, such as spiders and mites, are included.

Handbook of Vegetable Pests, Second Edition, provides two types of diagnostic aids: the easy-to-use "guides to pests of vegetable crops", which guides the reader to the most likely pests of each vegetable crop based on the portion of the plant attacked and the category of pest; and the more technical dichotomous keys for identification of many of the difficult-to-identify species. It includes over 300 common and occasional pest species, detailing the geographic distribution of vegetable pests, host plant relationships, natural enemies, damage, life history, and methods of control and damage prevention. - Presents a current and comprehensive synthesis of vetted information for the support of both commercial and home vegetable production - Includes over 300 common and occasional pest species, or species complexes, known to affect vegetables grown in the United States and Canada - Summarizes the important findings of the last 150 years - Provides citations to the original literature