One of the world's most insightful writers on the subject brings together an array of important and readable information on the ways in which insects and plants coexist in nature. Interrelationship Between Insects and Plants is a rare and expansive look at the intertwining of these two vastly different species. Its aim is to summarize in a simple and understandable way the basis of food selection among insects, and to review the various sides of their relationships with plants.

The evolution of phytophagous insects; The major determinants of diversity; Community patterns through time: the dynamics of colonization and speciation; Species interactions in communities: the animals; Interactions involving the plants; Coevolution.

Summer Rayne Oakes, an urban houseplant expert and environmental scientist, is the icon of wellness-minded millennials who want to bring nature indoors, according to a New York Times profile. Summer has managed to grow 1,000 houseplants in her Brooklyn apartment (and they're thriving!) Her secret? She approaches her relationships with plants as intentionally as if they were people. Everyone deserves to feel the inner peace that comes from taking care of greenery. Beyond the obvious benefits--beauty and cleaner air--there's a strong psychological benefit to nurturing plants as a path to mindfulness. They can reduce our stress level, lower our blood pressure, and improve our overall outlook. And they offer a rare opportunity to find joy by caring for another living being. When Summer Rayne Oakes moved to Brooklyn from the Pennsylvania countryside, she knew that bringing nature indoors was her only chance to stay sane. She found them by the side of the road, in long-forgotten window boxes, at farmers' markets, and in local garden shops. She found ways to shelve, hang, tuck, anchor, secure, and suspend them. She even installed a 150-foot expandable hose that connects to pipes under her kitchen sink, so she only has to spend about a half-hour a day tending to her plants--an activity that she describes as a "moving meditation." This is Summer's guidebook for cultivating an entirely new relationship with your plant children. Inside, you'll learn to: Pause for the flowers and greenery all around you, even the ones sprouting bravely between cracked pavement Trust that your apartment jungle offers you far more than pretty décor See the world from a plant's perspective, trading modern consumerism for sustainability Serve your chlorophyllic friends by learning to identify the right species for your home and to recreate their natural habitat (Bonus: your indoor garden won't die!) When we become plant parents, we also become better caretakers of ourselves, the people around us, and our planet. So, let's step inside the world of plants and discover how we can begin cultivating our own personal green space--in our homes, in our minds, and in our hearts.

Imagine beetles ejecting defensive sprays as hot as boiling water; female moths holding their mates for ransom; caterpillars disguising themselves as flowers by fastening petals to their bodies; termites emitting a viscous glue to rally fellow soldiers--and you will have entered an insect world once beyond imagining, a world observed and described down to its tiniest astonishing detail by Thomas Eisner. The story of a lifetime of such minute explorations, For Love of Insects celebrates the small creatures that have emerged triumphant on the planet, the beneficiaries of extraordinary evolutionary inventiveness and unparalleled reproductive capacity. To understand the success of insects is to appreciate our own shortcomings, Eisner tells us, but never has a reckoning been such a pleasure. Recounting exploits and discoveries in his lab at Cornell and in the field in Uruguay, Australia, Panama, Europe, and North America, Eisner time and again demonstrates how inquiry into the survival strategies of an insect leads to clarifications beyond the expected; insects are revealed as masters of achievement, forms of life worthy of study and respect from even the most recalcitrant entomophobe. Filled with descriptions of his ingenious experiments and illustrated with photographs unmatched for their combination of scientific content and delicate beauty, Eisner's book makes readers participants in the grand adventure of discovery on a scale infinitesimally small, and infinitely surprising.

This work powerfully asserts the idea that rather than using pesticides, the key to helping crops resist attacks from pests is to improve their strength through natural processes. Many of industrial agriculture's fundamental principles for fighting disease, in particular the reliance on pesticides and fertilizers, are explained and convincingly challenged and a new set of guiding principles for an ecological agricultural system are presented as a genuine alternative to the widespread use of chemicals.

Botanists and zoologists have recognized for centuries the specificity of various insects for plants, and entomolo gists have long been aware that insects defend themselves from predators by emitting repulsive odors. Only recently have chemists and biologists established a joint endeavor for studying the chemical relationships between plants and insects. The present symposium volume of the Phytochemical Society of North America's RECENT ADVANCES IN PHYTOCHEMISTRY consists of eight papers dealing with phytochemical relation ships between plants and their insect herbivores. The fifteenth P.S.N.A. annual symposium and meeting was held in August, 1975, on the campus of The University of South Florida, Tampa. The chemical defenses of apparent and unapparent plants were contrasted by Feeny. Rodreguiz and Levin illustrated parallel defense mechanisms of plants and insects and then Hendry, Kostelc, Hindenlang, Wichmann, Fix and Koreniowski discussed chemical messengers for both plants and insects. Subsequently Beck and Reese reviewed plant contributions to insect nutrition and metabolism. Indepth studies for the monarch butterfly-milkweed interaction were presented by Roeske, Seiber, Brower, and Moffitt and for the cotton boll weevil-cotton plant relationship by Hedin, Thompson, and Gueldner. In the latter portion of the symposium Rhoades and Cates presented a general theory concerning the coevolu tion of insects and plant antiherbivore chemistry.

This book, first published in 2005, addresses food-mediated interactions, focusing on how plants employ foods to recruit arthropod 'bodyguards' as a protection against herbivores.