What good are Bugs?: Insects in the Web of Life - Couverture rigide

Waldbauer, Gilbert

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0674010272 ISBN 13 : 9780674010277

Editeur : Harvard University Press, 2003

Synopsis

We shriek about them, slap and spray them, and generally think of insects (when we think of them at all) aspests. Yet if all insects, or even a critical few, were to disappear if there were none to pollinate plants, serve as food for other animals, dispose of dead organisms, and perform other ecologically essential tasks virtually all the terrestrial ecosystems on earth, the webs of life, would unravel. This book, the first to catalogue ecologically important insects by their roles, gives us an enlightening look at how insects work in ecosystems-what they do, how they live, and how they make file as we know it possible. In What Good Are Bugs? Gilbert Waldbauer combines anecdotes from entomological history with insights into the intimate workings of the natural world, describing the intriguing and sometimes amazing behavior of these tiny creatures. He weaves a colorful, richly textured picture of beneficial insect life on earth, front ants sowing their "hanging gardens" on Amazonian shrubs and trees to the sacred scarab of ancient Egypt burying balls of cattle dung full of undigested seeds, from the cactus-eating caterpillar (aptly called Cactoblastis) controlling the spread of the prickly pear to the prodigious honey bee and the "sanitary officers of the field"-the fly maggots, ants, beetles, ,and caterpillars that help decompose and recycle dung, carrion, and dead plants. As entertaining as it is informative, this charmingly illustrated volume captures the full sweep of insects' integral place in the web of life.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

GILBERT WA LDBAUER is Professor Emeritus of Eniomology ai the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. His books include Millions of Monarchs, Banches of Beetles; Insects through the Seasons; and The Birder's Bua Book-all from Harvard.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Harvard University Press
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0674010272
• ISBN 13: 9780674010277
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 384
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Amazon EU Sarl; 0; www.amazon.com; ; 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; 0; L-1855; Luxembourg