Plant-Animal Interactions

Kleber Del-Claro holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, and an MSc and PhD in Ecology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas. He is currently a Full Professor at Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU). His research interests include ecology in biotic interactions, behavioral ecology and ecological networks. He was the coordinator of the graduate program in Ecology at UFU; member of the Whitney Harris World Ecology Center (Scientific board), University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL), USA; coodinator the terms of agreement for cooperations at UFU-UMSL and UFU-BOKU (University of Natural Resources of Vieen). He is the editor of Tropical Biology for the Encyclopedia of Life System Support (UNESCO). He was Director of the Biology Institute from 2013 to 2017 and Research Director at the UFU from 2017 to 2020.  A researcher at the Brazilian National Scientific Council - highest level - 1A.Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi has been an Associate Professor at the Biology Institute/UFU since 2009.  Her Master's, PhD and PostDoc degrees focused on the field of Ecology of Pollination, Florivory and Phenology in the cerrado/Brazilian savannah. She holds a postdoctoral degree in Plant-Animal Interactions from UFU; PhD in Entomology from USP, Master’s in Ecology and Conservation of Natural Resources from UFU and Bachelor’s in Biology from Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas. She works in the areas of ecology of pollination, phenology, floral herbivory and insect-plant interactions. She is involved in the graduate programs in "Ecology and Conservation of Natural Resources" and "Plant Biology" at the Federal University of Uberlândia. She participated in the production of the books "Ecology of Plant-Animal Interactions: an ecological-evolutionary approach"; "Ethology 2011: Current Issues in Ethology and Annals of the XXIX Annual Meeting of Ethology" and "Current Issues in Behavioral Ecology and Interactions - Annals of II Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Symposium (2017)". She also Coordinates terms of agreement for cooperation: UFU-BOKU (University of Natural Resources of Vieen).

• Chapter 1 - Introduction.- Chapter 2 - Plant chemistry and their impacts on biotic interactions.- Chapter 3 - Herbivory and Plant defenses – antagonist interactions.- Chapter 4 - The molecular genetic basis in plant-animal interactions.- Chapter 5 - Biotic defenses against herbivory.- Chapter 6 - Pollination – from antagonistic to mutualistic interactions.- Chapter 7 - Dispersal – frugivory and seed dispersal.- Chapter 8 - Plant phenology: effects seasonality in biotic interactions.- Chapter 9 - Plant-mediated above-belowground interactions.- Chapter 10 - Ecosystem Engineers – how plant-animal interactions modify the environment.- Chapter 11 - Ecological networks in plant-animal interactions.- Chapter 12 - The evolution of facilitation and mutualism in plant-animal interactions.- Chapter 13 - Evolutionary conflicts in coevolved mutualisms.- Chapter 14 - Plant-Animal Interactions: and the origin of biodiversity.- Chapter 15 - Plant-Animal Interactions in the Anthropocene era.

“The volume feels generous with respect to ideas and areas for new research, which is a good thing ... . I would also predict that anyone interested in plant-animal interactions would find something useful here.” (Matthew L. Forister, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 99 (2), March, 2024)