Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Speight MR., Hunter MD. And Watt AD. 1999. Ecology of Insects: concepts and applications. Blackwell Science. Pp ix + 350. ISBN 0 86542 745 3. £26.50.

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms. Given the constraints in current biology education in the use of larger animals, insects seem to answer a need on many levels. The aim of this book is to provide an overview to this specialist ecological field. Unusually, the text starts with a complete overview of the text that follows it. Whereas most books provide a brief summary this one takes a much broader and deeper approach to this. The authors put individual aspects of insect ecology into context and the reader gets a very good start to the topic. Subsequent chapters cover specific areas. This starts with the impact of climate (and weather) on all aspects of insect life. Their size increases their vulnerability to the changes in the physical environment. Following this the authors examine the issues of insect herbivory, resources, population dynamics and evolutionary ecology. The link here is population ecology: given the growth rate of insect populations this is understandable. This leads to the final chapters which tend to focus more on the impact of insects upon humans. After a chapter dealing with insects in ecosystems the authors examine biodiversity, diseases and pest management. Here is the less pleasant side of dealing with insects. Although biodiversity looks at the spread of insects it is the impact of that diversity that attracts comment. Numerous diseases are insect-borne which can badly affect human health. Insect pests eat at least 10% of our food supply which makes pests and pest vectors an enormous economic loss and a key area of study.

Although this text does require some background knowledge much of it could be used in 'A' level biology. The opening overview worked well and the copious illustrations, photographs and diagrams serve not only to illuminate the ideas but also to enthuse the reader.