Novel Aspects of Insect-Plant Interactions

The first efforts to explore ecological interactions between insects and plants across several trophic levels are presented in this book, with special focus on mediation of complex interactions by plant allelochemicals. The first section looks at effects of plant allelochemicals on predator/prey and host/parasitoid interactions. The second section reveals the role of micro-organisms as mediators of interactions between insects and plants. The third section unifies and extends current theory to examine the effects of allelochemicals on the second and third trophic levels. The final section traces the physiological effects of plant allelochemicals in animal behavior, population regulation, maintenance of mimicry systems, and evolution of host range.