The Neurobiology of an Insect Brain

This book reviews the advances in insect neurobiology in the last two decades and highlights the contributions of this field to our understanding of how nervous systems function in general. By concentrating largely on one insect, the locust, this book unravels the mechanisms by which a brain integrates the vast array of sensory information to generate movement and behavior. The author describes the structure and development of the insect brain, detailing the cellular properties of insect neurons and the way they are altered by neurosecretors. Insect movements are fully analyzed at the cellular level to illustrate particular features of integrative processing. Richly illustrated, this volume emphasizes how the brain of an insect can be an informative model for defining basic neural mechanisms, shared by other animals and man.

Burrows is an eminent and productive figure in neurobiology, and this book is an immensely authoritative treatment of locust neurobiology. His message is clear and important ... a key reference work, which should be read by all neurobiologists and behaviourists. * Stephen J. Simpson, University of Oxford, Nature, Febr '97 * This is a remarkable book ... this book is concerned mainly with the cellular basis of behavior in the locust ... In this it is excellent ... we are treated to an in-depth presentation of the cellular components of the insect nervous system, the development of these cellular components, and the neurochemistry of the transmitter systems involved in these cells. The overall impression of these themes, which together make up close to half of the book, is one of uncompromising accuracy ... in no other reference work that I know of are the structure and function of nonspiking interneurons so clearly and comprehensively presented. * TINS, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1997 *