Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes
Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes

Author: Angela E. Douglas

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-08-02

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0691192405

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A comprehensive overview of symbiotic relationships between insects and microbes Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes is an authoritative and accessible synthesis of insect associations with beneficial microorganisms. Angela Douglas distills the vast literature in entomology and microbiology, as well as the burgeoning microbiome literature, to explore the full scope of insect-microbial interactions and their applications to real-world problems in agriculture and medicine. Douglas investigates how insects acquire and support their microbial partners, and examines how microorganisms contribute to insect nutrition, the defense against natural enemies, and the detoxification of natural allelochemicals and chemical insecticides. She analyzes how beneficial microbes can be harnessed to solve real-world problems in insect pest management, including strategies to suppress the transmission of viruses and microbial disease agents by mosquitoes and other insects. She also addresses the use of insects as biomedical models for effective microbial therapies treating a range of chronic human diseases, and considers how knowledge of insect-microbial interactions can promote the health of beneficial insects, especially in the context of environmental pollutants and climate change. Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes provides a much-needed conceptual framework for the growing discipline of insect-microbial interactions, and offers a wealth of insights into insect symbioses from molecular, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives.

Molecular Aspects of Plant Beneficial Microbes in Agriculture
Molecular Aspects of Plant Beneficial Microbes in Agriculture

Author: Vivek Sharma

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2020-03-12

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 0128184698

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Molecular Aspects of Plant Beneficial Microbes in Agriculture explores their diverse interactions, including the pathogenic and symbiotic relationship which leads to either a decrease or increase in crop productivity. Focusing on these environmentally-friendly approaches, the book explores their potential in changing climatic conditions. It presents the exploration and regulation of beneficial microbes in offering sustainable and alternative solutions to the use of chemicals in agriculture. The beneficial microbes presented here are capable of contributing to nutrient balance, growth regulators, suppressing pathogens, orchestrating immune response and improving crop performance. The book also offers insights into the advancements in DNA technology and bioinformatic approaches which have provided in-depth knowledge about the molecular arsenal involved in mineral uptake, nitrogen fixation, growth promotion and biocontrol attributes.

Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes
Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes

Author: Angela E. Douglas

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-08-02

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0691236232

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A comprehensive overview of symbiotic relationships between insects and microbes Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes is an authoritative and accessible synthesis of insect associations with beneficial microorganisms. Angela Douglas distills the vast literature in entomology and microbiology, as well as the burgeoning microbiome literature, to explore the full scope of insect-microbial interactions and their applications to real-world problems in agriculture and medicine. Douglas investigates how insects acquire and support their microbial partners, and examines how microorganisms contribute to insect nutrition, the defense against natural enemies, and the detoxification of natural allelochemicals and chemical insecticides. She analyzes how beneficial microbes can be harnessed to solve real-world problems in insect pest management, including strategies to suppress the transmission of viruses and microbial disease agents by mosquitoes and other insects. She also addresses the use of insects as biomedical models for effective microbial therapies treating a range of chronic human diseases, and considers how knowledge of insect-microbial interactions can promote the health of beneficial insects, especially in the context of environmental pollutants and climate change. Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes provides a much-needed conceptual framework for the growing discipline of insect-microbial interactions, and offers a wealth of insights into insect symbioses from molecular, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives.

Never Home Alone
Never Home Alone

Author: Rob Dunn

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 154164574X

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A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.

Beneficial Insects
Beneficial Insects

Author: David V. Alford

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2019-04-23

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 042952983X

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Insects are key components of life on our planet, and their presence is essential for maintaining balanced terrestrial ecosystems. Without insects humans would struggle to survive, and on a world scale food production would be severely compromised. Many plants and animals depend directly or indirectly on insects for their very survival, and this is particularly so in the case of insectivorous birds and other such creatures. The beneficial role of insects is often overlooked or misunderstood, and in farming circles their very presence on crops is often seen to be unwelcome. In reality, however, many insects are genuinely beneficial, as in the case of parasitic and predacious species. The use of chemical pesticides to control crop pests is becoming more tightly regulated and environmentally undesirable, and low-input farming, in which natural enemies of pests are encouraged to survive or increase, is becoming far more prevalent. Accordingly, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Pest Management (ICM) strategies are increasingly being developed, advocated and adopted. Features: Highlights information on many groups of insects and mites that act as natural enemies or biological control agents of phytophagous insects and mites, including plant pests. Profusely illustrated with high-quality colour photographs. Focuses mainly on insects and mites as natural enemies of plant pests, including parasitic and predacious species that have been accidentally or deliberately introduced in classical biological control programmes. Reviews the role of phytophagous European insects and mites in controlling or managing European plants that have become invasive weeds in other parts of the world, notably North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Fundamentals of Microbiome Science
Fundamentals of Microbiome Science

Author: Angela E. Douglas

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1400889820

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An essential introduction to microbiome science, a new cutting-edge discipline that is transforming the life sciences This book provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the fundamental principles of microbiome science, an exciting and fast-emerging new discipline that is reshaping many aspects of the life sciences. Resident microbes in healthy animals--including humans—can dictate many traits of the animal host. This animal microbiome is a second immune system conferring protection against pathogens; it can structure host metabolism in animals as diverse as reef corals and hibernating mammals; and it may influence animal behavior, from social recognition to emotional states. These microbial partners can also drive ecologically important traits, from thermal tolerance to diet, and have contributed to animal diversification over long evolutionary timescales. Drawing on concepts and data across a broad range of disciplines and systems, Angela Douglas provides a conceptual framework for understanding these animal-microbe interactions while shedding critical light on the scientific challenges that lie ahead. Douglas explains why microbiome science demands creative and interdisciplinary thinking—the capacity to combine microbiology with animal physiology, ecological theory with immunology, and evolutionary perspectives with metabolic science. An essential introduction to a cutting-edge field that is revolutionizing the life sciences, this book explains why microbiome science presents a more complete picture of the biology of humans and other animals, and how it can deliver novel therapies for many medical conditions and new strategies for pest control.

What Good Are Bugs? Insects in the Web of Life
What Good Are Bugs? Insects in the Web of Life

Author: Gilbert WALDBAUER

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0674044746

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This book, the first to catalogue ecologically important insects by their roles, gives us an enlightening look at how insects work in ecosystems--what they do, how they live, and how they make life as we know it possible. Waldbauer combines anecdotes from entomological history with insights into the intimate workings of the natural world, describing the intriguing and sometimes amazing behavior of these tiny creatures. As entertaining as it is informative, this charmingly illustrated volume captures the full sweep of insects' integral place in the web of life.

Life's Engines
Life's Engines

Author: Paul G. Falkowski

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2023-06-13

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0691247684

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The marvelous microbes that made life on Earth possible and support our very existence For almost four billion years, microbes had the primordial oceans all to themselves. The stewards of Earth, these organisms transformed the chemistry of our planet to make it habitable for plants, animals, and us. Life's Engines takes readers deep into the microscopic world to explore how these marvelous creatures made life on Earth possible—and how human life today would cease to exist without them. Paul Falkowski looks "under the hood" of microbes to find the engines of life, the actual working parts that do the biochemical heavy lifting for every living organism on Earth. With insight and humor, he explains how these miniature engines are built—and how they have been appropriated by and assembled like Lego sets within every creature that walks, swims, or flies. Falkowski shows how evolution works to maintain this core machinery of life, and how we and other animals are veritable conglomerations of microbes. A vibrantly entertaining book about the microbes that support our very existence, Life's Engines will inspire wonder about these elegantly complex nanomachines that have driven life since its origin. It also issues a timely warning about the dangers of tinkering with that machinery to make it more "efficient" at meeting the ever-growing demands of humans in the coming century.

Biopesticides for Sustainable Agriculture
Biopesticides for Sustainable Agriculture

Author: Nick Birch

Publisher: Burleigh Dodds Agricultural Sc

Published: 2020-03-24

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781786763563

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Part 1 of this collection reviews research on developing and assessing new biopesticides. Part 2 summarises advances in different types of entomopathogenic biopesticide. Part 3 assesses semiochemical, peptide-based and other natural substance-based biopesticides.

Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms
Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms

Author: Juan A. Morales-Ramos

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2022-09-20

Total Pages: 642

ISBN-13: 0128221488

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Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens, Second Edition explores the latest advancements and technologies for large-scale rearing and manipulation of natural enemies while presenting ways of improving success rate, predictability of biological control procedures, and demonstrating their safe and effective use. Organized into three sections, Parasitoids and Predators, Pathogens, and Invertebrates for Other Applications, this second edition contains important new information on production technology of predatory mites and hymenopteran parasitoids for biological control, application of insects in the food industry and production methods of insects for feed and food, and production of bumble bees for pollination.Beneficial organisms include not only insect predators and parasitoids, but also mite predators, nematodes, fungi, bacteria and viruses. In the past two decades, tremendous advances have been achieved in developing technology for producing these organisms. Despite that and the globally growing research and interest in biological control and biotechnology applications, commercialization of these technologies is still in progress. This is an essential reference and teaching tool for researchers in developed and developing countries working to produce "natural enemies in biological control and integrated pest management programs. - Highlights the most advanced and current techniques for mass production of beneficial organisms and methods of evaluation and quality assessment - Presents methods for developing artificial diets and reviews the evaluation and assurance of the quality of mass-produced arthropods - Provides an outlook of the growing industry of insects as food and feed and describes methods for mass producing the most important insect species used as animal food and food ingredients