The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly method of pest control that integrates well into area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes. This book takes a generic, thematic, comprehensive, and global approach in describing the principles and practice of the SIT. The strengths and weaknesses, and successes and failures, of the SIT are evaluated openly and fairly from a scientific perspective. The SIT is applicable to some major pests of plant-, animal-, and human-health importance, and criteria are provided to guide in the selection of pests appropriate for the SIT. In the second edition, all aspects of the SIT have been updated and the content considerably expanded. A great variety of subjects is covered, from the history of the SIT to improved prospects for its future application. The major chapters discuss the principles and technical components of applying sterile insects. The four main strategic options in using the SIT — suppression, containment, prevention, and eradication — with examples of each option are described in detail. Other chapters deal with supportive technologies, economic, environmental, and management considerations, and the socio-economic impact of AW-IPM programmes that integrate the SIT. In addition, this second edition includes six new chapters covering the latest developments in the technology: managing pathogens in insect mass-rearing, using symbionts and modern molecular technologies in support of the SIT, applying post-factory nutritional, hormonal, and semiochemical treatments, applying the SIT to eradicate outbreaks of invasive pests, and using the SIT against mosquito vectors of disease. This book will be useful reading for students in animal-, human-, and plant-health courses. The in-depth reviews of all aspects of the SIT and its integration into AW-IPM programmes, complete with extensive lists of scientific references, will be of great value to researchers, teachers, animal-, human-, and plant-health practitioners, and policy makers.

Examines how insects have been used as weapons in wartime conflicts throughout history, presenting as examples how scorpions were used in Roman times and hornets nests were used during the MIddle Ages in siege warfare and how insects have been used in Vietnam, China, and Korea.

The efficient production of large numbers of high-quality insects is a concern both for basic research and for the success of control programmes for pests of agricultural and medical significance. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of this important issue, identifying the major applications for insect-rearing technology. The chapters, international in scope, cover genetics and molecular biology; insect rearing and the development of bioengineered crops; nutrition, digestion and artificial diets; and the practical concerns of commercial insect rearing.

The worm was close now. So close Fliss could smell the putrid stench of its breath. Its slavering jaws gaped to engulf her... Everyone in Elsworth knows the local legend about the monstrous worm - or dragon - that once terrorised the village. But it never really happened. Or did it? For when Fliss and her friends are chosen to re-enact the legend for the village Festival, the four who are to play the part of the worm dance as one across the ground. They are the worm. And Fliss begins to feel real fear. Somehow the worm itself is returning - with a thousand-year hunger in its belly, and a burning desire for vengeance...

Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil. The extensive reliance on insecticide use reduces biodiversity, contributes to pollinator decline, destroys habitat, and threatens endangered species. This book offers a more effective application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, on an area-wide (AW) or population-wide (AW-IPM) basis, which aims at the management of the total population of a pest, involving a coordinated effort over often larger areas. For major livestock pests, vectors of human diseases and pests of high-value crops with low pest tolerance, there are compelling economic reasons for participating in AW-IPM. This new textbook attempts to address various fundamental components of AW-IPM, e.g. the importance of relevant problem-solving research, the need for planning and essential baseline data collection, the significance of integrating adequate tools for appropriate control strategies, and the value of pilot trials, etc. With chapters authored by 184 experts from more than 31 countries, the book includes many technical advances in the areas of genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, resistance management, and social sciences that facilitate the planning and implementing of area-wide strategies. The book is essential reading for the academic and applied research community as well as national and regional government plant and human/animal health authorities with responsibility for protecting plant and human/animal health.