Insect-Plant Biology - Hardcover

Schoonhoven, Louis M.; Van Loon, Joop J. A.; Dicke, Marcel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019852594X ISBN 13: 9780198525943

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Louis Schoonhoven: PhD Groningen State University (1962) Staff scientist Wageningen University (1962) Postdocs/sabbaticals Philadelphia, Princeton, London. Professor of Animal Physiology (Wageningen) (1972-1985) Dean of Faculty of Agriculture (1982-1985) Professor of Entomology (Wageningen) (1985-1991). Elected member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1982) Teaching courses in Scandinavia, China, Brazil, Kenya. Editor-in-Chief Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (1972-2002).
Joop van Loon: PhD Wageningen University (1988). Research scientist, Wageningen University (1981) Research scientist, Foundation for Agricultural Plant Breeding (SVP-DLO), Wageningen (1986). Assistant professor, Wageningen University (1989). Associate professor, Wageningen University (- present). Co-editor Entomologia Experimentalis et applicata (2000) Visiting professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2004).
Marcel Dicke: PhD Wageningen University (1988). Assistant Professor, Wageningen University (1985). Uyttenboogaart-Eliasen Professor of Insect-Plant Interactions, especially Tritrophic Interactions (1997). Professor of Entomology and head of Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University (2003). Member of editorial boards of Journal of Chemical Ecology (1999), Biochemical Systematics and Ecology (1995), Journal of Ethology (1999-present), Ecological Entomology (2001), Insect Science (2005). Netherlands Zoology Prize (Netherlands Society for Zoology 1992), Belgacom Prize (Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences, 1996), VICI grant (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO, 2002).

Review

"This is an outstanding reference to past and recent work on plant-insect interactions. It is laden with well-drawn figures and tables (about one per page) and includes an impressive, up-to-date bibliography, as well as an appendix with a comprehensive list of books devoted to the subject." --Quarterly Review of Biology

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 019852594X
• ISBN 13: 9780198525943
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 440