Insect-Fungal Associations

Fernando E. Vega is an insect pathologist at the Insect Biocontrol Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, a U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service facility. He researches developing innovative biological control methods to control the coffee berry borer, the most devastating pest of coffee throughout the world. Meredith Blackwell is a mycologist using cultural, morphological, and molecular characters in herstudies of the biology of associations between fungi and insects. She has conducted field studies in the Sonoran Desert, northern Gulf Coast, Canada, and Panama.

• Meredith Blackwell and Fernando E. Vega: Introduction: Seven Wonders of the Insect-Fungus WorldPart I. Fungi Acting Against Insects1: Stephen A. Rehner: Phylogenetics of the insect Pathogenic Genus Beauveria2: Michael J. Bidochka and Cherrie L. Small: Phylogeography of Metarhizium, an Insect Pathogenic Fungus3: Michael J. Furlong and Leslie C. Lewis: Interactions Between Entomopathogenic Fungi and Arthropod Natural Enemies4: Elizabeth Arnold and Leslie C. Lewis: Ecology and Evolution of Fungal Endophytes and Their Roles Against Insects5: Naomi M. Fast and Patrick J. Keeling: The Fungal Roots of Microspordian Parasites6: Alex Weir and Meredith Blackwell: Fungal Biotrophic Parasites of Insects and Other ArthropodsPart II. Fungi Mutualistic with Insects7: Ted R. Schultz, Urlich G. Mueller, Cameron R. Currie, and Stephen A. Rehner: Reciprical Illumination: A Composition of Agriculture in Humans and in Fungus-Growing Ants8: Duur K. Aanen and Jacobus J. Boomsma: Evolutionary Dynamics of the Mutualistic Symbiosis between Fungus-Growing Termites and Termitomyces Fungi9: Fernando E. Vega and Patrick F. Dowd: The Role of Yeasts as Insect Endosymbionts10: Sung-Oui Suh and Meredith Blackwell: The Beetle Gut as a Habitat for New Species of Yeasts11: Thomas C. Harrington: Ecology and Evolution of Mycophagous Bark Beetles and Their Fungal PartnersFernando E. Vega and Meredith Blackwell: Conclusion: Symbioses, Biocomplexity, and Metagenomes

"The book should be very useful to lecturers and educators involved in teaching insect-fungal associations to revise and update teaching course topics and material. All in all, I highly recommend this volume to all interested in insect-fungal associations and interactions."--ycologist's Bookshelf"This book should be very useful to lecturers and educators involved in teaching insect-fungal associations to revise and update course topics and material. All in all, I highly recommend this volume to all interested in insect-fungal associations and interactions."--Inoculum"Well written, present state-of-the-art information, and make for interesting and informative reading. The overall high quality of the book, its breadth of coverage, and its extremely reasonable price combine to make this a valuable and accessible resource for anyone interested in ecology, evolution, and symbiology."--Quarterly Review of Biology"Well written, present state-of-the-art information, and make for interesting and informative reading. The overall high quality of the book, its breadth of coverage, and its extremely reasonable price combine to make this a valuable and accessible resource for anyone interested in ecology, evolution, and symbiology."--Quarterly Review of Biology