This book discusses the effects of both natural (e.g., temperature, humidity, and lack of food) and man-induced stressors (e.g., pollution) on insects. Insect neurohormones and metabolism are emphasized, although all aspects of insect biology are examined. The role of ecdysteroids and juvenile hormones in response to thermal and other stressors is featured, and population studies in insect stress are presented. Entomologists, ecologists, ecophysiologists, physiologists, applied entomologists and others will find Hormones and Metabolism in Insect Stress an important reference resource.
Only one generation ago, entomology was a proudly isolated discipline. In Comstock Hall, the building of the Department of Entomology at Cornell University where I was first introduced to experimental science in the laboratory of Tom Eisner, those of us interested in the chemistry of life felt like interlopers. In the 35 years that have elapsed since then, all of biology has changed, and entomology with it. Arrogant molecular biologists and resentful classical biologists might think that what has happened is a hostile take-over of biology by molecular biology. But they are wrong. More and more we now understand that the events were happier and much more exciting, amounting to a new synthesis. Molecular Biology, which was initially focused on the simplest of organisms, bacteria and viruses, broke out of its confines after the initial fundamental questions were answered - the structure of DNA, the genetic code, the nature of regulatory genes - and, importantly, as its methods became more and more generally applicable. The recombinant DNA revo lution of the 1970s, the development of techniques for sequencing macromolecules, the polymerase chain reaction, new molecular methods of genetic analysis, all brought molecular biology face to face with the infinite complexity and the exuber ant diversity of life. Molecular biology itself stopped being an isolated diScipline, pre occupied with the universal laws of life, and became an approach to addressing fas cinating specific problems from every field of biology.
The publication of the extensive seven-volume work Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science provided a complete reference encompassing important developments and achievements in modern insect science. One of the most swiftly moving areas in entomological and comparative research is molecular biology, and this volume, Insect Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, is designed for those who desire a comprehensive yet concise work on important aspects of this topic. This volume contains ten fully revised or rewritten chapters from the original series as well as five completely new chapters on topics such as insect immunology, insect genomics, RNAi, and molecular biology of circadian rhythms and circadian behavior. The topics included are key to an understanding of insect development, with emphasis on the cuticle, digestive properties, and the transport of lipids; extensive and integrated chapters on cytochrome P450s; and the role of transposable elements in the developmental processes as well as programmed cell death. This volume will be of great value to senior investigators, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and advanced undergraduate research students. It can also be used as a reference for graduate courses and seminars on the topic. Chapters will also be valuable to the applied biologist or entomologist, providing the requisite understanding necessary for probing the more applied research areas related to insect control. - Topics specially selected by the editor-in-chief of the original major reference work - Fully revised and new contributions bring together the latest research in the rapidly moving fields of insect molecular biology and insect biochemistry, including coverage of development, physiology, immunity and proteomics - Full-color provides readers with clear, useful illustrations to highlight important research findings
The publication of the extensive seven-volume work Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science provided a complete reference encompassing important developments and achievements in modern insect science. One of the most swiftly moving areas in entomological and comparative research is endocrinology, and this volume, Insect Endocrinology, is designed for those who desire a comprehensive yet concise work on important aspects of this topic. Because this area has moved quickly since the original publication, articles in this new volume are revised, highlighting developments in the related area since its original publication. Insect Endocrinology covers the mechanism of action of insect hormones during growth and metamorphosis as well as the role of insect hormones in reproduction, diapause and the regulation of metabolism. Contents include articles on the juvenile hormones, circadian organization of the endocrine system, ecdysteroid chemistry and biochemistry, as well as new chapters on insulin-like peptides and the peptide hormone Bursicon. This volume will be of great value to senior investigators, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and advanced undergraduate research students. It can also be used as a reference for graduate courses and seminars on the topic. Chapters will also be valuable to the applied biologist or entomologist, providing the requisite understanding necessary for probing the more applied research areas. - Articles selected by the known and respected editor-in-chief of the original major reference work, Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science - Newly revised contributions bring together the latest research in the quickly moving field of insect endocrinology - Review of the literature of the past five years is now included, as well as full use of data arising from the application of molecular technologies wherever appropriate
The scientific program for the XVI International Congress of Entomology, held in Kyoto, Japan August 3-9, 1980 included a symposium on the subject of "Energy Metabolism and Its Regulation in Insects." The symposium provided an opportunity to integrate knowledge, and focus attention, on an important and fundamental aspect of insect biochemis try/physiology. The energy metabolism of insects differs from that of other animals in a variety of ways, including the prodigious amounts of energy expended by flying insects, the presence in hemolymph of large concentrations of sugar in the form of the nonreducing disaccharide tre halose, the transport of fat in the form of diacylglycerol, and the periodic mobilization and deposition of cuticular components during development. These differences, together with hormones, neurohormones, and neu rotransmitters that are specific to (or functionally different in) insects, serve to demonstrate the unique nature of energy metabolism in insects. An obvious corollary from the demonstrated uniqueness of insect energy metabolism is that an understanding of the process may lead to the de velopment of new, specific agents or strategies for the suppression of insect pests. The present volume is an expanded version of the Kyoto symposium.
Emphasis is placed on the elaborate cuticular matrices in insects and crustaceans, spider and insect silks, sialomes of phytophagous and blood-feeding arthropods as well as on secretions of male and female accessory glands. Focus is placed largely on insects, due to the extensive body of published research that in part is the result of available whole genome sequences of several model species (in particular Drosophila melanogaster) and accessible ESTs for other species. Such advances have facilitated fundamental insights into genomic, proteomic and molecular biology-based physiology. This new volume contains comprehensive contributions on extracellular composite matrices in arthropods. The building blocks of such matrices are formed in and secreted by single layered epithelial cells into exterior domains where their final assembly takes place.Additionally, the unique mechanical properties of natural biocomposites like chitin/chitosan, the crustacean mineralized exoskeleton, the pliant protein resilin or insect and spider silks, have inspired basic and applied research that yield sophistical biomimetics and structural biocomposite hybrids important for future industrial and biomedical use. In summary, this book provides an invaluable vast source of basic and applied information for a plethora of scientists as well as textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
This textbook provides a comprehensive overview on the diverse strategies invertebrate animals have developed for nitrogen excretion and maintenance of acid-base balance and summarizes the most recent findings in the field, obtained by state-of-the-art methodology. A broad range of terrestrial, freshwater and marine invertebrate groups are covered, including crustaceans, cephalopods, insects and worms. In addition the impact of current and future changes in ocean acidification on marine invertebrates due to anthropogenic CO2 release will be analyzed. The book addresses graduate students and young researchers interested in general animal physiology, comparative physiology and marine/aquatic animal physiology. Also it is an essential source for researchers dealing with the effects of increasing pCO2 levels on aquatic animals, of which the vast majority are indeed invertebrates. All chapters are peer-reviewed.
This important publication provides a comprehensive summary of data and information on the metabolism and chemical degradation of agrochemicals in soils, plants and animals. Part 1, Herbicides and Plant Growth Regulators, and Part 2, Insecticides and Fungicides, together provide a major bibliography, as each entry is fully referenced. Contents include metabolic products, pathways and mechanisms, together with useful details on physico-chemical properties and mode of action. Both parts are organised by class of chemical for easy reference. There are separate entries for each pesticide, covering most commercially available chemicals in use today. In addition, an overview of the metabolism of each major class provides the reader with an informed summary of key similarities and significant differences between individual chemicals. Information is based primarily on literature from the past 40 years of research, together with some important, previously unpublished work provided by the agrochemical companies. Presented in a systematic, easy-to-read style, with extensive indexing to facilitate the rapid location of required information and the comparison of related compounds, Metabolic Pathways of Agrochemicals is an invaluable reference for chemists, biochemists and biologists working in the discovery, development and registration of agrochemicals, as well as scientists in related areas such as design and mode of action of pharmaceuticals.
Of all the zoological classes the insects are the most numerous in species and the most varied in structure. Estimates of the number 18 of species vary from 1 to 10 million, and 10 individuals are es timated to be alive at any given moment. In their evolution, in sects are relatively ancient and, therefore, they have proved to be a phenomenally successful biological design which has survived unchanged in its basic winged form during the last 300 m. y. In sects were the first small animals to colonize the land with full suc cess. Their small size opened many more ecological niches to them and permitted a greater diversification than the vertebrates. What is it about this design that has made insects so successful in habitats stretching from arid deserts to the Arctic and Antarctic and from freshwater brooks to hot springs and salines? Is it due to the adapta bility of their behavior, physiology, and biochemistry to changing environmental conditions? Three features of insects are of particular importance in determin ing their physiological relationship with the environment: their small size, as mentioned above, the impermeability and rigidity of their exoskeleton, and their poikilothermy. Of course, as with any other animals, the insects' success in its environment depends on its ability to maintain its internal state within certain tolerable limits of temperature, osmotic pressure, pH or oxygen concentra tion (homoeostasis).
Bringing together the expertise of over 450 distinguished entomologists from 40 countries, this exhaustive work provides a global overview of insects and their close relatives. It is designed as an introduction to this fascinating group of animals.
