Over the past 40 years, the SIP meetings have played a central role in the development of the field of insect-plant relationships, providing both a show-case for current research as well as a forum for the airing and development of influential new ideas. The 10th symposium, held 4-10 July 1998, in Oxford, followed that tradition. The present volume includes a representative selection of fully refereed papers from the meeting, plus a listing of the titles of all presentations. The volume includes reviews of major areas within the subject, along with detailed experimental studies. Topics covered include central neural and chemosensory bases of host plant recognition, integrative studies of insect behaviour, tritrophic interactions, plant defences, insect life histories, plant growth responses, microbial partners in insect-plant associations, and genetic bases of host plant associations. The book provides a key source for students and research workers in the field of insect-plant relationships.

The 11th International Symposium on Insect-Plant Relationships (SIP11), held on August 4-10, 2001, in Helsingør, Denmark, followed the tradition of previous SIP meetings and covered topics of different levels from chemistry, physiology, and ethology to ecology, genetics, and evolution of insect-plant relationships. The present volume includes a representative selection of fully refereed papers as well as a complete list of all the contributions which were presented at the meeting. Reviews of selected topics as well as original experimental data are included. The book provides valuable information for students and research workers interested in chemical and biological aspects of interactions between individuals and populations of different organisms.

Half of all insect species are dependent on living plant tissues, consuming about 10% of plant annual production in natural habitats and an even greater percentage in agricultural systems, despite sophisticated control measures. Plants possess defences that are effective against almost all herbivorous insect species. Host-plant specialization, observed in over 80% of these animals, appears to be an effective adaptation to breach these defence systems. The mechanisms underlying plant defence to invading herbivores on the one side, and insect adaptations to utilize plants for nutrition, defence and shelter on the other, are the main subjects of this book. In the case of plants exposed to insect herbivores, they include the activation of defence systems in order to minimize damage, as well as the emission of chemical signals that may attract natural enemies of the invading herbivores and may be exploited by neighbouring plants that mount defences as well. For insects, they include complex bevioural adaptations and their underlying sensory systems (with their implications for learning and nutritional plasticity), as well as the endocrinological aspects of life cycle synchronization with host-plant phenology. Insect-Plant Biology discusses the operation of these mechanisms at the molecular and organismal levels and explicitly puts these in the context of both ecological interactions and evolutionary processes. In doing so, it uncovers the highly intricate antagonistic as well as mutualistic interactions that have evolved between plants and insects. The book concludes with a chapter on the application of our knowledge of insect-plant interactions to agricultural production. This multidisciplinary approach will appeal to students in biology, agricultural entomology, ecology, and indeed anyone interested in the principles underlying the relationships between the two largest groups of organisms on earth: plants and insects.

With global populations expected to exceed 9.2 billion by 2050 and available land and water resources devoted to crop production dwindling, we face significant challenges to secure global food security. Only 12 plant species feed 80% of the world’s population, with just three crop species (wheat, rice and maize) accounting for food consumed by 50% of the global population. Annual losses to crop pests and pathogens are significant, thought to be equivalent to that required to feed a billion people, at a time when crop productivity has plateaued. With pesticide applications becoming increasingly unfeasible on cost, efficacy and environmental grounds, there is growing interest in exploiting plant resistance and tolerance traits for crop protection. Indeed, mankind has been selectively breeding plants for desirable traits for thousands of years. However, resistance and tolerance traits have not always been those most desired, and in many cases have been inadvertently lost during the domestication process: crops have been effectively ‘disarmed by domestication’. Moreover, mechanistic understanding of how resistance and tolerance traits operate is often incomplete, which makes identifying the right combination for crop protection difficult. We aimed to address this Research Topic by inviting authors to contribute their knowledge of appropriate resistance and tolerance traits, explore what is known about durability and breakdown of defensive traits and, finally, asking what are the prospects for exploiting these traits for crop protection. The research topic summarised in this book addresses some of the most important issues in the future sustainability of global crop production.

Climate Change and Crop Stress: Molecules to Ecosystems expounds on the transitional period where science has progressed to 'post-genomics' and the gene editing era, putting field performance of crops to the forefront and challenging the production of practical applicability vs. theoretical possibility. Researchers have concentrated efforts on the effects of environmental stress conditions such as drought, heat, salinity, cold, or pathogen infection which can have a devastating impact on plant growth and yield. Designed to deliver information to combat stress both in isolation and through simultaneous crop stresses, this edited compilation provides a comprehensive view on the challenges and impacts of simultaneous stresses. - Presents a multidisciplinary view of crop stresses, empowering readers to quickly align their individual experience and perspective with the broader context - Combines the mechanistic aspects of stresses with the strategic aspects - Presents both abiotic and biotic stresses in a single volume