Insect Herbivory - Hodkinson, I.

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Résumé :
This book attempts to summarize what we know about inseet-plant relationships without beeoming too involved with untestable hypo? theses. It is not intended to be eomprehensive and we have deliberately excluded diseussion of aquatie organisms and fungi. Our definition of inseet herbivores is intentionally broad. It includes all inseets whieh feed on plants, although we have emphasized those whieh feed primarily on the photosynthetie tissues. Some referenee is made to seed predation but pollination eeology is excluded. We thank Ors P.H. Smith and M. Luxton for their helpful eommenb on the manuseript but we accept full responsibility for any mistakes whieh may remain. Finally, we thank the various publishers and a uthor~ who gave us permission to use copyright material. 7 I Introduction The net primary produetion of the 300000 speeies of vaseular plant whieh inhabit the dry land surfaee of the earth has been estimated at 9 about 115 x 10 t per annum. This represents a massive resouree potentially available for exploitation by the herbivorous inseets, which themselves probably number in exeess of 500000 species.

Sommaire:
Preface.- 1 Introduction.- 1.1 The evolutionary context and its implications.- 2 Plants as food for insects.- 2.1 Variation in the nutritive value of plant tissue.- 2.2 Barriers to the use of plant tissues.- 2.3 Trace compound barriers.- 2.4 Dosage-dependent chemical barriers.- 2.5 Changes in plant tissue resulting from herbivory.- 2.6 Strategies of insect herbivory and plant response.- 3 Insect adaptations to herbivory.- 3.1 Finding the food: host-plant location and recognition.- 3.2 Finding the food: synchronization with the host-plant.- 3.3 Insect feeding mechanisms.- 3.4 Food utilization and conversion efficiencies.- 4 Insect herbivory and non-woody plants.- 4.1 Herbivory and the individual plant.- 4.2 Herbivory and the plant population.- 4.3 Quantitative relationships.- 5 Insect herbivory and woody plants.- 5.1 The distribution and intensity of insect herbivory.- 5.2 The consequences of herbivory for the woody plant.- 5.3 Other effects of insect herbivory.- 5.4 Insect herbivores and tree rings.- 6 Insect herbivory and the plant community.- 6.1 Plant community composition and insect abundance.- 6.2 Effects of insect herbivory on plant communities.- 7 Insect herbivory in ecosystems.- 7.1 The scale of insect herbivory.- 7.2 The role of insect herbivores in the ecosystem.- 7.3 Insect herbivory and agricultural ecosystems.- References....