Plant-provided food for carnivorous insects : a protective mutualism and its applications /

Certain plant species produce "food bodies" that attract, for example, ants. These vicious insects then protect the plant from herbivores that would otherwise eat its leaves. The focus of this book is "how plants use foods to recruit arthropod bodyguards as a protection against herbivores," which also has "direct implications for the use of food plants and food supplements in biological control programs." Twenty-three contributors from several nations are responsible for the 11 chapters. Editors Wackers and van Rijn (Netherlands Institute of Ecology), and Bruin (Univ. of Amsterdam), are noted researchers and authorities in this field. The book is divided into three parts: "Food Provision by Plants," "Arthropods Feeding on Plant-Provided Food," and "Plant-Provided Food and Biological Control." Chapters discuss, for example, suitability of plant food sources for insects (chapter 2), nectar and pollen feeding by adult herbivores (chapter 7), plant-food and herbivore-carnivore dynamics (chapter 8), and plant resources and habitat diversification (chapter 10). Extremely interesting and well written, these reviews are intended principally for researchers, students, and professionals in entomology, plant biology, agriculture, biological control, crop protection, and related areas. Extensive references and figures are included. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. C. Graves emeritus, Bowling Green State University