Bugs, bees, butterflies and beetles are falling in numbers but this book promises to enthuse a new audience.
The mysterious world of tiny creatures is revealed by Professor Helen Roy, Professor Jane Hill, Dr Allan Watt and Emilie Aime and dozens more experts.
Learn how to identify insects, how they operate in nature, how they are being hit by climate change and their use by humans.
There's one million named species. The book concentrates on 300. Remember from science head, thorax, abdomen, exoskeleton and life cycles? It's all here in a clear format.
Insects have evolved to thrive. Aphids mature fast, producing offspring without the need to mate. Bee hawkmoths evolve to resemble noxious prey to avoid predation.
Skipping through the vast array of characteristics of insects, we learn there's 7,000 species of dung beetle that 'feast on faeces' and fleas that can jump 38 times their body size. They socialise (termites, wasps, ants) and build mutually beneficial relationships with animals and plants. Ants protect mealybugs and eat their honeydew. Parasitic wasps lay eggs inside aphids.
Knowing some of this is useful for growers, who might want to use and encourage one insect to control another. Ladybirds and lacewings are especially useful to control aphids. Insects as herbivores are there to maintain plant diversity but reduce yields. Insects are bad for business Predatory and parasitic insects may not be effective without a diversity of species in the environment or when chemical pesticides are over used. Resistance to chemicals such as DDT has led to more use of biological control, developing resistant crop varieties, cultural control such as when to time seed owing, and pest management - using pesticides only when economic thresholds have been passed, combining partially effective control measures such as biological and cultural control, and using insecticides carefully yo increase the ratio of natural enemies to pests.
There's a lot here and space for thousands more pages, but what there is a flitting flutter through many interesting aspects of insect life.
