Their natural enemies largely determine the population size and dynamic behavior of many plant-eating insects. Any reduction in enemy number can result in an insect outbreak. Applied biological control is thus one strategy for restoring functional biodiversity in many agroecosystems. Predators and Parasitoids addresses the role of natural enemies i

Publisher Description

Larry Pedigo and Marlin Rice have produced the top pest management textbook on the market for decades. New co-author Rayda Krell has helped bring the book into the twenty-first century. The successful core concepts of the book—understanding pests in their environment and using an ecological approach to combat them—remain as robust as ever. Features that instructors have come to rely on have been retained, including insect diagnostic boxes with detailed information on important species and species groups and an appendix with keys to major insect orders. New material on genetically modified plant species and regional pest technologies complement concepts in basic and applied entomology. Taxonomies and systematics of insects have been updated throughout the book.

Over the past three decades there has been a dramatic increase in theoretical and practical studies on insect natural enemies. The appeal of insect predators, and parasitoids in particular, as research animals derives from the relative ease with which many species may be cultured and experimented with in the laboratory, the simple life cycles of most parasitoids, and the increasing demand for biological pest control. There is now a massive literature on insect natural enemies, so there is a great need for a general text that the enquiring student or research worker can use in deciding on approaches and techniques that are appropriate to the study and evaluation of such insects. This book fulfils that demand. A considerably updated and expanded version of a previous best-seller, it is an account of major aspects of the biology of predators and parasitoids, punctuated with information and advice on which experiments or observations to conduct, and how to carry them out. Guidance is provided, where necessary, on the literature that may need to be consulted on particular topics. While researchers can now refer to several books on parasitoids and predators, Insects as Natural Enemies is unique in emphasising practicalities. It is aimed at students and professional working in universities and both government and commercial institutes in the fields of pest management, agriculture, horticulture and forestry.

This book is about disease and death. It is an ecologist's view of Darwin's vivid evocation of Nature, red in tooth and claw. An international team of authors examines broad patterns in the population biology of natural enemies, and addresses general questions about the role of natural enemies in the population dynamics and evolution of their prey. For instance, how do large natural enemies like wolves differ from small natural enemies like bacterial diseases in their effects on prey abundance? Is it better to chase after prey, or sit and wait for it to come to you? How should prey behave in order to minimize the risk of being eaten? The answers are all in this fascinating senior undergraduate/postgraduate text.