The first-ever reference to the sign left by insects and other North American invertebrates includes descriptions and almost 1,000 color photos of tracks, egg cases, nests, feeding signs, galls, webs, burrows, and signs of predation. Identification is made to the family level, sometimes to the genus or species. It's an invaluable guide for wildlife professionals, naturalists, students, and insect specialists.
A much-needed new study on plant galls growths on plants formed of plant tissue that are caused by other organisms. Most naturalists have come across oak apples, robin s pincushions, marble galls and witches brooms, a few of the more familiar examples of the strange growths that are plant galls. They are beautiful, often bizarre and colourful, and amazingly diverse in structure and in the organisms which cause them. They have been known since ancient times and have attracted superstitions and folk customs. Both the ancient Greeks and the Chinese used them in herbal medicine, and until well into the nineteenth century, they had a variety of commercial uses: important for dyeing cloth, tanning leather and for making ink. Knowledge of gall types increased during the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century as more species were described and their structure became more clearly understood, and yet even today, little is known about the mechanisms that cause gall formation as well as the life cycles of the organisms that initiate gall growth. Since most galls do not cause any economic damage to crop plants, research funding has traditionally been sparse in this area. However, the insect cycles and gall structures are amazing examples of the complexity of nature. Margaret Redfern explores these fascinating complexities in this latest New Naturalist volume, providing much-needed insight into the variety of galls of different types caused by a wide range of organisms including fungi, insects and mites. She discusses the ecology of galls more generally and focuses on communities of organisms within galls, the evolution and distribution of galls, as well as human and historical perspectives."
This book is based on Herbert Buhr's seminal keys of 1964-1965 (Bestimmungstabellen der Gallen (Zoo- und Phytocecidien) an Pflanzen Mittel- und Nordeuropas) and augmented with Houard's 1908-1913 work on Southern Europe (Les Zoocécidies des Plantes d'Europe et du Bassin de la Méditerranée). The authors have updated this with the research of a new generation of cecidologists, significantly expanding our knowledge of plant galls and their distribution. The 9,000 galls and malformations described by Buhr and Houard have been updated and 1,250 new galls described in more recent literature have been added. The nomenclature of both gall inducers and host plants has been updated, information about specific groups of gall inducers has been reviewed, and new insights have been added by a team of specialists. Moreover, they collected distribution data for the whole of Europe and, where available, adjacent areas.
Strategic Business Transformation The seven deadly sins to overcome What can Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela teach us about running businesses that face transformation in their markets. This book courageously offers that businesses that transform markets or respond to transformation know that they must transform themselves before they transform others. Great companies find a cause greater than themselves, organizes this cause into executable momentum and conquers the imagination of the market. Transforming your business requires a recipe powered by a cause not missions. Read and see how and why.
Using native plants in a garden has many benefits. They attract beneficial wildlife and insects, they allow a gardener to create a garden that reflects the native beauty of the region, and they make a garden more sustainable. Because of all this, they are an increasingly popular plant choice for home and public gardens. Native Plants of the Southeast shows you how to choose the best native plants and how to use them in the garden. This complete guide is an invaluable resource, with plant profiles for over 460 species of trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers. Each plant description includes information about cultivation and propagation, ranges, and hardiness. Comprehensive lists recommend particular plants for difficult situations, as well as plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife.
In a work that will interest researchers in ecology, genetics, botany, entomology, and parasitology, Warren Abrahamson and Arthur Weis present the results of more than twenty-five years of studying plant-insect interactions. Their study centers on the ecology and evolution of interactions among a host plant, the parasitic insect that attacks it, and the suite of insects and birds that are the natural enemies of the parasite. Because this system provides a model that can be subjected to experimental manipulations, it has allowed the authors to address specific theories and concepts that have guided biological research for more than two decades and to engage general problems in evolutionary biology. The specific subjects of research are the host plant goldenrod (Solidago), the parasitic insect Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae) that induces a gall on the plant stem, and a number of natural enemies of the gallfly. By presenting their detailed empirical studies of the Solidago-Eurosta natural enemy system, the authors demonstrate the complexities of specialized enemy-victim interactions and, thereby, the complex interactive relationships among species more broadly. By utilizing a diverse array of field, laboratory, behavioral, genetic, chemical, and statistical techniques, Abrahamson and Weis present the most thorough study to date of a single system of interacting species. Their interest in the evolutionary ecology of plant-insect interactions leads them to insights on the evolution of species interactions in general. This major work will interest anyone involved in studying the ways in which interdependent species interact.
