Biodiversity and Insect Pests

Geoff Gurr is Professor of Applied Ecology at Charles Sturt University in Australia. Over the last two decades he has worked on the ecology and management of pests in systems as diverse as pastures and forests. Much of his recent work has been with collaborators throughout Asia where insecticide resistance in sucking pests of rice has driven the development and adoption of biodiversity-based management strategies. Steve Wratten is Professor of Ecology at Lincoln University, New Zealand and Visiting Professor at Charles Sturt University in Australia. His main research concerns evaluating and enhancing "nature's services" (ecosystem services). Using resource economics techniques, the existing value of these services (such things as biological control of pests) is estimated and then habitat manipulation ("ecological engineering") is used to enhance these services on farmland to provide profit and real evidence of sustainability. This work is done across several agricultural sectors but especially in vineyards.William Snyder is Professor of Entomology at Washington State University, USA. With the help of a small army of students and postdocs, he explores the relationship between biodiversity and biocontrol. Recent work focuses on the relative importance of the two components of biodiversity, species number (richness) and species balance (evenness), and practical ways for farmers to harness biodiversity's many benefits.Donna Read is a Research Assistant at Charles Sturt University, Australia with interests in rural sociology, agricultural economics and horticulture.

• Preface, viiForeword, ixContributors, xINTRODUCTION, 11 Biodiversity and insect pests, 3Geoff M. Gurr, Steve D. Wratten and William E. SnyderFUNDAMENTALS, 212 The ecology of biodiversity–biocontrol relationships, 23William E. Snyder and Jason M. Tylianakis3 The role of generalist predators in terrestrial food webs: lessons for agricultural pest management, 41K.D. Welch, R.S. Pfannenstiel and J.D. Harwood4 Ecological economics of biodiversity use for pest management, 57Mark Gillespie and Steve D. Wratten5 Soil fertility, biodiversity and pest management, 72Miguel A. Altieri, Luigi Ponti and Clara I. Nicholls6 Plant biodiversity as a resource for natural products for insect pest management, 85Opender Koul7 The ecology and utility of local and landscape scale effects in pest management, 106Sagrario Gámez-Virués, Mattias Jonsson and Barbara EkbomMETHODS, 1218 Scale effects in biodiversity and biological control: methods and statistical analysis, 123Christoph Scherber, Blas Lavandero, Katrin M. Meyer, David Perovic, Ute Visser, Kerstin Wiegand and Teja Tscharntke9 Pick and mix: selecting flowering plants to meet the requirements of target biological control insects, 139Felix L. Wäckers and Paul C.J. van Rijn10 The molecular revolution: using polymerase chain reaction based methods to explore the role of predators in terrestrial food webs, 166William O.C. Symondson11 Employing chemical ecology to understand and exploit biodiversity for pest management, 185David G. James, Sofia Orre-Gordon, Olivia L. Reynolds (née Kvedaras) and Marja SimpsonAPPLICATION, 19712 Using decision theory and sociological tools to facilitate adoption of biodiversity-based pest management strategies, 199M.M. Escalada and K.L. Heong13 Ecological engineering strategies to manage insect pests in rice, 214Geoff M. Gurr, K.L. Heong, J.A. Cheng and J. Catindig14 China's 'Green Plant Protection' initiative: coordinated promotion of biodiversity-related technologies, 230Lu Zhongxian, Yang Yajun, Yang Puyun and Zhao Zhonghua15 Diversity and defence: plant–herbivore interactions at multiple scales and trophic levels, 241Finbarr G. Horgan16 'Push–pull' revisited: the process of successful deployment of a chemical ecology based pest management tool, 259Zeyaur R. Khan, Charles A.O. Midega, Jimmy Pittchar, Toby J.A. Bruce and John A. Pickett17 Using native plant species to diversify agriculture, 276Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner and Jean Tompkins18 Using biodiversity for pest suppression in urban landscapes, 293Paula M. Shrewsbury and Simon R. Leather19 Cover crops and related methods for enhancing agricultural biodiversity and conservation biocontrol: successful case studies, 309P.G. Tillman, H.A. Smith and J.M. HollandSYNTHESIS, 32920 Conclusion: biodiversity as an asset rather than a burden, 331Geoff M. Gurr, William E. Snyder, Steve D. Wratten and Donna M.Y. ReadIndex, 340Colour plates fall between pages 84 and 85

"Suitable as a textbook for advanced students, the volume perhaps has its greatest value as an enduring source of information and ideas to practitioners and conservationists."  (The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1 June 2014)“Biodiversity and Insect Pestsis well illustrated, with several colour plates. It has an excellent index and a companion website, http://www.wiley.com/go/gurr/biodiversity, with downloadable figures and tables.  Although relatively expensive, and at times very technical, it is recommended as a must-read book for the agricultural community, researchers and the general public.”  (Austral Ecology, 1 October 2013)