Insects as Service Providers

This book overviews the role of insects in providing various human, environmental, recreational, aesthetic, and cultural services. It presents a comprehensive account of insect service providers to show different aspects of insects and cultivate the appreciation of insects.

Insects are beneficial to humans as ecofriendly tools, as parasitoids and predators in the biological control of insect pests and vectors, reducing the use of agrochemicals in modern agriculture and protecting the environment. Insects facilitate crop pollination and increase the agricultural yield. They are farmers’ friends, and serve as food for the human population worldwide, provide pharmaceuticals, take part in ecosystem services, and work as scavengers. Insects are used in disease therapy and wound healing. They are also helpful in criminal investigations and are the best models for research and technology innovations. Insects also yield various silks, lac, honey, propolis, wax, etc., promoting insecttourism, recreations, and culture. This contributed volume focuses on these different beneficial aspects of insects in human life.

This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of entomology, agricultural zoology, researchers, and anyone interested in insects, including policy planners.

Prof. Omkar, FNASc, has been associated with teaching for about 35 years and research for more than 43 years. He is former Head of the Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, and former coordinator of UGC-SAP (DRS-II), DST-FIST, and DST-PURSE, and Centre of Excellence, Govt. of UP, programs. He has worked on 10 projects of state/central funding agencies. He specializes in entomology with particular reference to insect pest management. Prof. Omkar is an Associate Editor, International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, Springer Nature and chief editor of the Journal of Applied Bioscience; besides being president of the International Society of Applied Biology.

He is a recipient of  several awards, like, Saraswati Samman by the Department of Higher Education, Govt. of UP, Prof. T. N. Ananthakrishnan Foundation Award, Rescholar Award of Excellence in Agricultural Entomology by The Association of Entomologists, Prof. G.S. Shukla Gold Medal by the Academy of Environmental Biology, Dr. S. Pradhan Memorial Lecture Award, by the Entomological Society of India and Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, ACCLAIM and UDDEPAN  Awards from the  University of Lucknow, Lucknow. He is a Fellow of The Entomological Society of India, Zoological Society of India, Society for Biocontrol Advancement; and Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences India, (FNASc), besides many more. He has 18 books to his credit. Prof. Omkar has published 237 research papers, 10 Review articles, 42 reviews as book chapters, and 16 popular science articles. Prof. Omkar has guided 25 Ph. D. students. He has visited the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK (2006) for three months and Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia and Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (2016).