Particular focus on advances in understanding insect species and landscape ecology, which provide the foundations for effective IPMCovers latest research on classical, conservation and augmentative biological controlReviews key developments in use of entomopathogenic fungi, viruses and nematodes

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management. It uses natural predators, pest-resistant plants, and other methods to preserve a healthy environment in an effort to decrease reliance on harmful pesticides. Featuring forty chapters written by leading experts, this textbook covers a broad and comprehensive range of topics in integrated pest management, focused primarily on theory and concepts. It is complemented by two award winnin...

This open-access textbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date guide for students and practitioners wishing to access in a single volume the key disciplines and principles of wheat breeding. Wheat is a cornerstone of food security: it is the most widely grown of any crop and provides 20% of all human calories and protein. The authorship of this book includes world class researchers and breeders whose expertise spans cutting-edge academic science all the way to impacts in farmers’ fields. T...

Climate change represents an unprecedented challenge to the world's biosphere and to the global community. It also represents a unique challenge for plant health. Human activities and increased market globalization, coupled with rising temperatures, has led to a situation that is favourable to pest movement and establishment. This scientific review assesses the potential effects of climate change on plant pests and consequently on plant health. The evidence assessed strongly indicates that...

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly method of pest control that integrates well into area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes. This book takes a generic, thematic, comprehensive, and global approach in describing the principles and practice of the SIT. The strengths and weaknesses, and successes and failures, of the SIT are evaluated openly and fairly from a scientific perspective. The SIT is applicable to some major pests of plant-, animal-, and h...

Integrated Pest Management: Current Concepts and Ecological Perspective presents an overview of alternative measures to traditional pest management practices using biological control and biotechnology. The removal of some highly effective broad-spectrum chemicals, caused by concerns over environmental health and public safety, has resulted in the development of alternative, reduced risk crop protection products. These products, less toxic to the environment and easily integrated into biolo...

This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of a...

A major task of our time is to ensure adequate food supplies for the world's current population (now nearing 7 billion) in a sustainable way while protecting the vital functions and biological diversity of the global environment. The task of providing for a growing population is likely to be even more difficult in view of actual and potential changes in climatic conditions due to global warming, and as the population continues to grow. Current projections suggest that the world's temperatu...

Biodiversity offers great potential for managing insect pests. It provides resistance genes and anti-insect compounds; a huge range of predatory and parasitic natural enemies of pests; and community ecology-level effects operating at the local and landscape scales to check pest build-up. This book brings together world leaders in theoretical, methodological and applied aspects to provide a comprehensive treatment of this fast-moving field.Chapter authors from Europe, Asia, Africa, ...

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple c...

Discusses ways of ensuring genetic diversity, advances in wheat breeding and their use to improve properties such as drought resistance and cold tolerance;Summarises research on factors affecting nutritional and other aspects of wheat quality;Reviews advances in understanding wheat pests and diseases together with ways of controlling them such as disease-resistant varieties, integrated pest and weed management

This practical handbook describes sampling and laboratory assessment methods for the biodiversity of a number of key functional groups of soil organisms, including insects, earthworms, nematodes, fungi and bacteria. The methods have been assembled and the protocols drafted by a number of scientists associated with the UNEP-GEF funded Conservation and Sustainable Management of Below-Ground Biodiversity Project, executed by the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute of the Inte...