Insect Predators in Pest Management

Pests cause damage to the economic value of crops and stored products, while vectors are responsible for the transmission of disease-causing agents in human beings and livestock. Although application of synthetic pesticides in agriculture gives immediate relief, it also causes well-known side effects, leading to a consensus among entomologists and agriculturists to shift towards other ecofriendly pest management methods. Natural enemies of insects including their predators, parasitoids and pathogens have attracted the attention of scientists across the globe. These natural enemies exist in agroecosystems and suppress the populations of pests. Parasitoids are farmers’ friends and the most successful group of natural enemies. Highly specialized/generalized in their prey choice, active stages of predators search for a suitable prey, attack or kill the prey and consume prey within a short handling time. Predatory ability is known to increase with increase in prey density. A single predator may devour several prey individuals. Exploiting this potency of parasitoids may yield successful results in controlling notorious pests in an ecofriendly way.

This book provides information on the important biocontrol agents that are effective in pest suppression. It starts with insect parasitic groups followed by specific group of parasitoids. It is hoped that the book presents a comprehensive account of beneficial parasitoids and will be useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Entomology, Biological Control, Plant Protection, Agricultural Zoology and Zoology, besides those involved in competitive examinations and policy planning.

Features

• Each chapter has been authored by specialized senior professionals
• Every chapter contains Learning Objectives and Points to Remember
• This book offers comprehensive knowledge of parasitoids and their application in pest management in a lucid way

Professor Omkar is a former Professor and Head, Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, India. For his unique contribution to science, Professor Omkar has been conferred with Fellowship by The National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) along with other prestigious fellowships. With 25 PhDs supervised, Professor Omkar has completed 11 research projects funded by State and Central agencies; published more than 300 papers/chapters (including one each in Nature Biotechnology& Conservation Biology), besides having two third research papers in international journals; written and edited more than 20 books published by well recognised national & international publishers. He has also served as a Subject Expert for Swiss National Science Foundation, besides many indigenous grant applications. In view of Academic contributions, Professor Omkar has been felicitated for his excellence in academics and awarded prestigious Saraswati Samman by the Department of Higher Education, Govt. of UP (2017), Professor T N Ananthakrishnan Award, Chennai (2012), Rescholar Award of Excellence in Agricultural Entomology, Patiala (2014), Prof. G. S. Shukla Gold Medal (2014), Dr. S. Pradhan Memorial Lecture Award (2019). Known globally for identifying and harnessing the potential of beneficial insects, he has worked in collaboration with multiple international scientists and visited the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia (UK) in 2006 for three months and Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice and Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic in 2016 for Four Weeks. Professor Omkar is Among Top 2% Scientists of World in the database of Stanford University published by Elsevier Inc., USA (2021). He has RGScore- 3374, H index-29 & I₁₀-95.