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.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Foreword
• Contributors
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 Biodiversity and insect pests, Geoff M. Gurr; Steve D. Wratten; William E. Snyder
• FUNDAMENTALS
• 2 The ecology of biodiversity–biocontrol relationships, William E. Snyder; Jason M. Tylianakis
• 3 The role of generalist predators in terrestrial food webs: lessons for agricultural pest management, K.D. Welch; R.S. Pfannenstiel; J.D. Harwood
• 4 Ecological economics of biodiversity use for pest management, Mark Gillespie; Steve D. Wratten
• 5 Soil fertility, biodiversity and pest management, Miguel A. Altieri; Luigi Ponti; Clara I. Nicholls
• 6 Plant biodiversity as a resource for natural products for insect pest management, Opender Koul
• 7 The ecology and utility of local and landscape scale effects in pest management, Sagrario Gámez-Virués; Mattias Jonsson; Barbara Ekbom
• METHODS
• 8 Scale effects in biodiversity and biological control: methods and statistical analysis, Christoph Scherber; Blas Lavandero; Katrin M. Meyer; David Perovic; Ute Visser; Kerstin Wiegand; Teja Tscharntke
• 9 Pick and mix: selecting flowering plants to meet the requirements of target biological control insects, Felix L. Wäckers; Paul C.J. van Rijn
• 10 The molecular revolution: using polymerase chain reaction based methods to explore the role of predators in terrestrial food webs, William O.C. Symondson
• 11 Employing chemical ecology to understand and exploit biodiversity for pest management, David G. James; Sofia Orre-Gordon; Olivia L. Reynolds (née Kvedaras); Marja Simpson
• APPLICATION
• 12 Using decision theory and sociological tools to facilitate adoption of biodiversity-based pest management strategies, M.M. Escalada; K.L. Heong
• 13 Ecological engineering strategies to manage insect pests in rice, Geoff M. Gurr; K.L. Heong; J.A. Cheng; J. Catindig
• 14 China's 'Green Plant Protection' initiative: coordinated promotion of biodiversity-related technologies, Lu Zhongxian; Yang Yajun; Yang Puyun; Zhao Zhonghua
• 15 Diversity and defence: plant–herbivore interactions at multiple scales and trophic levels, Finbarr G. Horgan
• 16 'Push–pull' revisited: the process of successful deployment of a chemical ecology based pest management tool, Zeyaur R. Khan; Charles A.O. Midega; Jimmy Pittchar; Toby J.A. Bruce; John A. Pickett
• 17 Using native plant species to diversify agriculture, Douglas A. Landis; Mary M. Gardiner; Jean Tompkins
• 18 Using biodiversity for pest suppression in urban landscapes, Paula M. Shrewsbury; Simon R. Leather
• 19 Cover crops and related methods for enhancing agricultural biodiversity and conservation biocontrol: successful case studies, P.G. Tillman; H.A. Smith; J.M. Holland
• SYNTHESIS
• 20 Conclusion: biodiversity as an asset rather than a burden, Geoff M. Gurr; William E. Snyder; Steve D. Wratten; Donna M.Y. Read