Insects and Wildlife
Capinera, J.L. 2010. Insects and Wildlife: Arthropods and their Relationships with Wild vertebrate Animals. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, U.K. 487 pp.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the interrelationships of
insects and wildlife. It serves as an introduction to insects and other
arthropods for wildlife management and other vertebrate biology students,
and emphasizes the importance of insects to wild vertebrate animals. The
book emphasizes how insects exert important influences on wildlife habitat
suitability and wildlife population sustainability, including their direct
and indirect effects on wildlife health. Among the important topics covered
are:
- the importance of insects as food items for vertebrate animals;
- the role of arthropods as determinants of ecosystem health and
productivity;
- the ability of arthropods to transmit disease;
- an overview of representative disease-causing agents transmitted by
arthropods;
- arthropods as pests and parasites of vertebrates;
- the hazards to wildlife associated with using using pesticides to
protect against insect damage;
- insect management using techniques other than pesticides;
- the importance of insect conservation and how insects influence
wildlife conservation.
Thomas Fasulo is the newsletter editor. You can submit news anytime to fasulo@ufl.edu. Issues are published the middle of each month. Submit items for an issue by the 7th of that month. Detailed articles, such as this one, must be submitted before the first of the month for that month's newsletter.
Return to the March 2010 issue.