Sizing Up the Global Pest Problem
Insect pests remain a major threat to crop production primarily because of their ability to inflict severe damage on crop yields, as well as their role as key vectors of disease. Early identification of pests is critical to the success of integrated pest management (IPM) programmes and essential for the development of phytosanitary/quarantine regimes to prevent the introduction of invasive insect pests to new environments.
Advances in monitoring of native and invasive insect pests of crops reviews the wealth of research on techniques to monitor and thus prevent threats from both native and invasive insect pests. The book considers recent advances in areas such as sampling, identifying and modelling pest populations.
With its considered approach, the book explores current best practices for the detection, identification and modelling of native and invasive insect pests of crops. The contributors offer farmers informed advice on how to mitigate a growing problem which has been exacerbated as a result of climate change.
Key Features:
- Highlights the relationship between climate change and the emergence of invasive insect crop pests
- Considers the key challenges facing the identification of crop insect pests and the role of new, emerging technologies in improving the rate of detection (e.g. image-based, DNA barcoding)
- Reviews the establishment of successful integrated pest management (IPM) programmes to control and/or eradicate the existence of invasive species
Audience: University and other researchers in entomology, manufacturers/suppliers of crop pest monitoring equipment as well as government and private sector agencies supporting and regulating insect pest management and monitoring in agriculture.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Knowing your enemy - through monitoring - is important in planning control interventions and serves as a foundation for effective and appropriate pest management,” says Professor Toby Bruce of Keele University, UK.
Insect pests remain a major threat to global crop production due to their ability to inflict severe damage on crop yields. For example, the FAO has reported that pests destroy up to 40% of crops worldwide each year, resulting in over $200 billion of losses.
Because of this, early identification and monitoring of pests is absolutely critical to the success of integrated pest management (IPM) programmes and the prevention of invasive insect pests in new environments - a problem massively exacerbated by climate change.
This book promises to be the ‘go-to’ reference for those studying the sampling, identification and modelling of native and invasive pest populations.
Advances in monitoring of native and invasive insect pests of crops reviews the wealth of research on implementable techniques to monitor - and thus prevent - potential threats from both native and invasive insect pests.
“Literature is rife with sampling procedures for sizing up pest problems. Few however focus on what each technique detects and measures, nor its genuine utility,” says Michael E. Irwin, Emeritus Professor at the University of Arizona, USA.
“This new book, edited by Dr Michelle Fountain and Dr Tom Pope, addresses these very concerns in a comprehensive manner. This book is a gem!” he concludes.
Much discussion has been had on the contribution of agriculture to climate change and the need to develop more sustainable production systems. However, in this new book, the editors have taken a different approach, choosing instead to highlight the impact of climate change on agriculture.
“As a result of climate change, we’re now seeing populations of non-native and invasive pests appear in environments where they previously haven’t before,” says Francis Dodds, Editorial Director.
“We can’t reverse the consequences of climate change, however, what we can do is develop systems and technologies equipped with the ability to identify and monitor these pests that significantly threaten global food production,” he adds.
As well as exploring the variety of phytosanitary measures available to prevent the introduction of invasive insect species, the book also details the importance of sampling and monitoring and risk assessment techniques, as well as the potential economic impact of invasive crop pests.
“We’re delighted to have Dr Michelle Fountain return to edit her second book with us and to have such a globally recognised expert in Dr Tom Pope editing it alongside her,” says Rob Burleigh.
“This book will be a great addition to the libraries and personal collections of all involved and interested in entomology,” he concludes.
About the Editors
Dr Alan MacLeod works in the United Kingdom for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Alan was chair of the International Advisory Group on Pest Risk Analysis, providing technical support to the International Plant Protection Convention and has a strong interest in PRA training and has worked with the IPPC and international colleagues to deliver PRA training to support countries in Asia and Africa. Alan has published over 100 scientific papers and guest edited journal special issues focussed on plant health and biosecurity.Dr Alistair Drake is a retired entomologist who holds honorary positions with The University of New South Wales and the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. His research interests include the development of radar techniques for insect observation, their application to pest forecasting, aeroecology (especially of insects), and more general aspects of animal migration and applied ecology. He has co-authored a monograph on radar entomology and co-edited a multiauthor book on insect migration.
Dr. William (Bill) Hutchison is a Professor and Extension Entomologist at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA. His expertise is applied insect population ecology, as it relates to the development of innovative Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs for a variety of fruit and vegetable crops. He has also been active in evaluating the long-term sustainability of insect-resistant, genetically engineered (GE) maize, and implementing GE crops into IPM programs. He is also active in international IPM research, with a current US-AID project in East Africa.
Dr Tom Pope is Reader in Entomology and Integrated Pest Management at Harper Adams University, a leading agricultural university in the UK. A fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, Dr Pope is a globally recognised expert in tracking and understanding the behaviour of insect and other pests as well as in the design and implementation of IPM programmes.
Dr Michelle Fountain is Head of Pest and Pathogen Ecology at the world-famous NIAB East Malling (formerly East Malling Research), UK. She is internationally renowned for her research on integrated insect pest management (IPM) and insect pollination in fruit horticulture. Dr Fountain is co-editor of Integrated management of diseases and pests of tree fruit, published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing in 2019.
