Host-Plant Selection by Phytophagous Insects

Host-Plant Selection by Phytophagous Insects PDF Author: Elizabeth A. Bernays
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0585304556
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
For more than 20 years insect/plant relations have been a focus for studies in ecology and evolution. The importance of insects as crop pests, and the great potential of insects for the biological control of weeds, have provided further impetus for work in this area. All this attention has resulted in books on various aspects of the topic, and reviews and research papers are abundant. So why write another book? It seems to us that, in the midst of all this activity, behavior has been neglected. We do not mean to suggest that there have not been admirable papers on behavior. The fact that we can write this book attests to that. But we feel that, too often, behavior is relegated to a back seat. In comparison to the major ecological and evolutionary questions, it may seem trivial. Yet the whole process of host-plant selection and host-plant specificity amongst insects depends on behavior, and selection for behavioral differences must be a prime factor in the evolution of host-plant specificity. In writing this book, we hope to draw attention to this central role of behavior and, hopefully, encourage a few students to attack some of the very difficult questions that remain unanswered.

Host-Plant Selection by Phytophagous Insects

Host-Plant Selection by Phytophagous Insects PDF Author: Elizabeth A. Bernays
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0585304556
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
For more than 20 years insect/plant relations have been a focus for studies in ecology and evolution. The importance of insects as crop pests, and the great potential of insects for the biological control of weeds, have provided further impetus for work in this area. All this attention has resulted in books on various aspects of the topic, and reviews and research papers are abundant. So why write another book? It seems to us that, in the midst of all this activity, behavior has been neglected. We do not mean to suggest that there have not been admirable papers on behavior. The fact that we can write this book attests to that. But we feel that, too often, behavior is relegated to a back seat. In comparison to the major ecological and evolutionary questions, it may seem trivial. Yet the whole process of host-plant selection and host-plant specificity amongst insects depends on behavior, and selection for behavioral differences must be a prime factor in the evolution of host-plant specificity. In writing this book, we hope to draw attention to this central role of behavior and, hopefully, encourage a few students to attack some of the very difficult questions that remain unanswered.

Specialization, Speciation, and Radiation

Specialization, Speciation, and Radiation PDF Author: Kelley Jean Tilmon
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520251326
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
"This volume captures the state-of-the-art in the study of insect-plant interactions, and marks the transformation of the field into evolutionary biology. The contributors present integrative reviews of uniformly high quality that will inform and inspire generations of academic and applied biologists. Their presentation together provides an invaluable synthesis of perspectives that is rare in any discipline."--Brian D. Farrell, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University "Tilmon has assembled a truly wonderful and rich volume, with contributions from the lion's share of fine minds in evolution and ecology of herbivorous insects. The topics comprise a fascinating and deep coverage of what has been discovered in the prolific recent decades of research with insects on plants. Fascinating chapters provide deep analyses of some of the most interesting research on these interactions. From insect plant chemistry, behavior, and host shifting to phylogenetics, co-evolution, life-history evolution, and invasive plant-insect interaction, one is hard pressed to name a substantial topic not included. This volume will launch a hundred graduate seminars and find itself on the shelf of everyone who is anyone working in this rich landscape of disciplines."--Donald R. Strong, Professor of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis "Seldom have so many excellent authors been brought together to write so many good chapters on so many important topics in organismic evolutionary biology. Tom Wood, always unassuming and inspired by living nature, would have been amazed and pleased by this tribute."--Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Perspectives in Chemoreception and Behavior

Perspectives in Chemoreception and Behavior PDF Author: R.F. Chapman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9781461246459
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
In the study of the physiological basis of animal behavior Vince Dethier has been a pioneer, a guiding star. Although his own work has centered on the blowfly and the caterpillar, his interests and influence have spread far beyond the insects. The breadth of this impact is indicated by the contributions from colleagues and former students in this volume. These papers were originally presented at a meeting to honor Vince's 70th birthday held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in May 1985. It was attended by friends and col leagues of all ages from many parts of the world. However, the picture presented by these papers is not the whole story. What it does not show is the extent of Vince's interest and influence beyond the rigorous, though friendly, atmosphere of the research laboratory. His idyllic summers in Maine have produced studies on the natural history of feeding by insects culminating in The Tent Makers, with more to come. In these studies we see his real love and, dare we say, understanding of the insect. Vince Dethier is not concerned simply with reaching the established scientist. In To Know a Fly he reaches out to those just beginning, perhaps even to those who will never begin, and provides insight both to the experimentalist's approach and to the fun of research. His sense of fun and his elegant, fluent writing have given us, too, his tongue-in-cheek fictional writings for children of all ages.

Chemical Ecology of Insects

Chemical Ecology of Insects PDF Author: William J. Bell
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1489933689
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
Our objective in compiling a series of chapters on the chemical ecology of insects has been to delineate the major concepts of this discipline. The fine line between presenting a few topics in great detail or many topics in veneer has been carefully drawn, such that the book contains sufficient diversity to cover the field and a few topics in some depth. After the reader has penetrated the crust of what has been learned about chemical ecology of insects, the deficiencies in our understanding of this field should become evident. These deficiencies, to which no chapter topic is immune, indicate the youthful state of chemical ecology and the need for further investigations, especially those with potential for integrating elements that are presently isolated from each other. At the outset of this volume it becomes evident that, although we are beginning to decipher how receptor cells work, virtually nothing is known of how sensory information is coded to become relevant to the insect and to control the behavior of the insect. This problem is exacerbated by the state of our knowledge of how chemicals are distributed in nature, especially in complex habitats. And finally, we have been unable to understand the significance of orientation pathways of insects, in part because of the two previous problems: orientation seems to depend on patterns of distri bution of chemicals, the coding of these patterns by the central nervous system, and the generation of motor output based on the resulting motor commands.

Planthoppers

Planthoppers PDF Author: R. F. Denno
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461523958
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 806

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Book Description
Planthoppers include some of the most devastating pests of major agricultural crops throughout the world. One species, the rice brown planthopper, is among the most economically important pests in Asia. In past decades, government policies encouraged the control of rice planthoppers with synthetic pesticides, a tactic which promoted insecticide resistance and often led to the pesticide-induced resurgence of pest populations. To deter planthopper outbreaks, a more ecologically sound management strategy is being implemented, one based on a thorough investigation of population dynamics, natural enemies, and the genetics of host plant and insecticide adaptation. In the natural habitats of North America and Europe, scientists have also used planthoppers as model organisms to test ecological and evolutionary theory. The consequence of these diverse studies is an extremely scattered literature on planthoppers that has never been synthesized from an ecological perspective. This volume summarizes what is known about planthopper ecology and biological control. It takes a theoretical approach yet is deeply concerned with the application of theory to the practical problems of pest management.

Insect-Plant Biology

Insect-Plant Biology PDF Author: Louis M. Schoonhoven
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019852594X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
"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 are generally remarkably well-protected against insect attack, with the result that most insects are highly specialized feeders. The mechanisms underlying plant resistance to invading herbivores on the one side, and insect food specialization on the other, are the main subjects of this book. For insects these include food-plant selection and the complex sensory processes involved, with their implications for learning and nutritional physiology, as well as the endocrinological aspects of life cycle synchronization with host plant phenology. 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." "Insect-Plant Biology discusses the operation of these mechanisms at the molecular and organismal levels, in the context of both ecological interactions and evolutionary relationships. In doing so, it uncovers the highly intricate antagonistic and 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 agricultural entomology, plant sciences, ecology, and indeed anyone interested in the principles underlying the relationships between the two largest groups of organisms on earth: plants and insects."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Annual Plant Reviews, Insect-Plant Interactions

Annual Plant Reviews, Insect-Plant Interactions PDF Author: Claudia Voelckel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118829808
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
This latest volume in Wiley Blackwell’s prestigious Annual Plant Reviews brings together articles that describe the biochemical, genetic, and ecological aspects of plant interactions with insect herbivores.. The biochemistry section of this outstanding volume includes reviews highlighting significant findings in the area of plant signalling cascades, recognition of herbivore-associated molecular patterns, sequestration of plant defensive metabolites and perception of plant semiochemicals by insects. Chapters in the genetics section are focused on genetic mapping of herbivore resistance traits and the analysis of transcriptional responses in both plants and insects. The ecology section includes chapters that describe plant-insect interactions at a higher level, including multitrophic interactions, investigations of the cost-benefit paradigm and the altitudinal niche-breadth hypothesis, and a re-evaluation of co-evolution in the light of recent molecular research. Written by many of the world’s leading researchers in these subjects, and edited by Claudia Voelckel and Georg Jander, this volume is designed for students and researchers with some background in plant molecular biology or ecology, who would like to learn more about recent advances or obtain a more in-depth understanding of this field. This volume will also be of great use and interest to a wide range of plant scientists and entomologists and is an essential purchase for universities and research establishments where biological sciences are studied and taught. To view details of volumes in Annual Plant Reviews, visit: www.wiley.com/go/apr Also available from Wiley: Plant Defense Dale Walters 9781405175890 Herbicides and Plant Physiology, 2nd Edn Andrew Cobb & John Reade 9781405129350

Herbivorous Insects

Herbivorous Insects PDF Author: Sami Ahmad
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description


Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems

Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems PDF Author: Robert Denno
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323142877
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
Variable Plants and Herbivores in Natural and Managed Systems examines individual, population, species, and community responses of herbivores to plant variation, with emphasis on insects, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. It is divided into five parts encompassing 18 chapters that discuss variability as a mechanism of defense used by plants against their parasites and the effects of variability on herbivores at several different levels of complexity. After a brief discussion on plant-herbivore interactions, the first part of this book considers sources of within-plant variation and effects on the distribution and abundance of herbivores. Part II examines interplant variation, the co-evolutionary problems it poses for herbivores, and the ecological and evolutionary responses of these animals. It discusses the effects of host-plant variability on the fitness of sedentary herbivorous insects. Part III discusses the role of host variability in the evolution of feeding specialization, genetic differentiation, and race formation. The importance of host variation to the organization of herbivore communities and the manipulation of host-plant variability for the management of herbivore pest populations are presented in the remaining parts. This book will be helpful to agriculturists, silviculturists, biologists, and researchers who wish to expand their knowledge in dynamics of plant-herbivore relationships.

Host Plant Resistance to Insects

Host Plant Resistance to Insects PDF Author: Niranjan Panda
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Historical overview of host plant resistance; Crop plant and insect diversity; Secondary plant metabolites for insect resistance; Insect - plant interactions; Host plant selection; Mechanisms of resistance; Factors affecting expression of resistance; Screening for insect resistance; Plant resistance and insect pest management; Genetics of resistance to insects; Breeding for resistance to insects.