Applied Myrmecology: A World Perspective / Edition 1

by Robert K Vander Meer, Aragua Cedeno, Klaus Jaffe

Overview

Ants have always fascinated the nature observer. Reports from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia indicate that ants interested humans long ago. Myrmecology as a science had its beginning in the last century with great naturalists like Andre, Darwin, Emery, Escherich, Fabre, Fields, Forel, Janet, Karawaiew, McCook, Mayr, Smith, Wasmann and Wheeler. They studied ants as an interesting biological phenomenon, with little thought of the possible beneficial or detrimental effects ants could have on human activities (see Wheeler 1910 as an example). When Europeans began colonizing the New World, serious ant problems occurred. The first reports of pest ants came from Spanish and Portuguese officials of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Trinidad, The West Indies, Central America and South America. Leaf-cutting ants were blamed for making agricultural development almost impossible in many areas. These ants, Atta and Acromyrmex species, are undoubtedly the first ants identified as pests and may be considered to have initiated interest and research in applied myrmecology (Mariconi 1970).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367013240
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	09/13/2019
Pages:	763
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert K. Vander Meer, Klaus Jaffe, Aragua Cedeno

Table of Contents

Foreword /C.S.Lofgren — Preface — Acknowledgments — ANT PESTS OF THE WORLD — SYSTEMATICS AND MORPHOLOGY — REPRODUCTION — NATURAL HISTORY AND BIOLOGY — BEHAVIORAL AND CHEMICAL ECOLOGY — APPLIED ECOLOGY — CONTROL — List of Contributors — Taxonomic Index — Subject Index.

Editorial Reviews

An inclusive look at the pest ants of the world. Covering species found in South America, Africa, Australia, India, Europe, and North America, the book draws on a wide variety of disciplines to bring together a picture of the systematics; reproduction; biology; behavioral, chemical, and applied ecology; and problems of control of pest ants. With both species-specific studies and broad, synthetic overviews, this is a useful book for not only entomologists but also ethnologists, biochemists, agricultural scientists, ecologists, and others interested in the relationships between insects and humans. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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