Bernard Slippers - Böcker

This open access book will provide an introduction to forest entomology, the principles and techniques of forest insect pest management, the different forest insect guilds/feeding groups, and relevant forest insect pest management case studies.

This open access book will provide an introduction to forest entomology, the principles and techniques of forest insect pest management, the different forest insect guilds/feeding groups, and relevant forest insect pest management case studies.

This book includes chapters focusing on the principles of biological control and influence of policy, ecology and diversity in establishing successful programs. Plantation forests have a crucial role to meet the fiber demands of a growing world population, especially considering the concerning decrease in the world’s total forest area. One of the greatest threats to the sustainability of plantation forestry is insect pests. Among the approaches that can be used to manage populations of insect pests, biological control is considered one of the most feasible and effective approaches to use in plantation forests.The authors review past and current major biological control programs in different plantation forest systems, including pine, eucalyptus and poplar, and including classical, conservation and augmentative approaches. Other chapters examine opportunities to use new technologies and integrated approaches and identify future challenges in the use of biological control.

The Sirex woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, is the most important invasive alien insect pest of Pinus plantations in the Southern Hemisphere. It now also threatens pines in North America. This book brings together the worldwide knowledge of researchers from Universities and Government institutions, as well as forest industry practitioners that have worked on the pest. Importantly, it is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject since S. noctilio was discovered outside its native range around 1900. The book covers all aspects of the biology and management of S. noctilio, including aspects of the insects’ taxonomy, general life history, host-plant relationships, population dynamics, chemical ecology and symbiosis with the fungus Amylostereum areolatum. The book also contains a comprehensive synthesis of the history and current status of the pest and worldwide efforts to control it, including biological control, silviculture and quarantine.