Insect Herbivore-Host Dynamics
Tree-Dwelling Aphids

First published in 2005, this text introduces students and research workers to insect herbivore–host dynamics using the interaction between aphids and trees.

A. F. G. Dixon (Author)

9780521802321, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 February 2005

208 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.475 kg

Review of the hardback: '… it gives the reader not only the insight to the partial problem of the selected aphid species and their hosts but it serves also as a model for studying other ecological tasks.' Thaiszia: Journal of Botany

Literature on the population dynamics of insect herbivores tends to favour a top-down regulation of abundance, owing much to the action of natural enemies. Originally published in 2005, this volume challenges this paradigm and argues that tree-dwelling species of aphids, through competition for resources, regulate their own abundance. The biology of tree-dwelling aphids is examined, particularly their adaptation to the seasonal development of their host plants. When host-plant quality is favourable, aphids, by telescoping generations, can achieve prodigious rates of increase which their natural enemies are unable to match. Using analyses of long-term population censuses and results of experiments, this book introduces students and research workers to insect herbivore-host dynamics using the interaction between aphids and trees as a model.

1. Introduction
2. Tree dwelling aphids
3. Trees as a habitat for aphids: relation to host plant
4. Trees as a habitat for aphids: relation to natural enemies
5. Carrying capacity of trees
6. Aphid abundance
7. Population dynamics
8. Risky dispersal
9. Seasonal sex allocation
10. Aphids and tree fitness
11. Rarity, conservation and global warming
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Zoology & animal sciences [PSV]