What do you think?
Rate this book
The Insects: An Outline of Entomology
Insects represent over half of the planet’s biological diversity. This popular textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to this extraordinary diversity, and places entomology central to the theory and practice of evolutionary and ecological studies. Fully revised, this fifth edition opens with a chapter concerning the popular side of insect studies, including insects in citizen science, zoos and butterfly houses, and insects as food for humans and animals. Key features of insect
structure, function, behaviour, ecology and classification are integrated with appropriate molecular studies. Much of the book is organized around major biological living on the ground, in water, on plants, in colonies, and as predators, parasites/parasitoids and prey insects. A strong evolutionary theme is maintained throughout. There is major revision to the chapter on systematics and a new chapter, Insects in a Changing World, includes insect responses to, and the consequences of, both climate change and human-assisted global alterations to distributions. Updated ‘Taxoboxes’ demonstrate topical issues and provide concise information on all aspects of each of the 28 major groupings (orders) of insects, plus the three orders of non-insect hexapods. New boxes describe a worrying increase in insect threats to landscape and commercial trees (including eucalypts, palms and coffee) and explain the value of genetic data, including evolutionary developmental biology and DNA barcoding, in insect biodiversity studies.
The authors maintain the clarity and conciseness of earlier editions, and extend the profuse illustrations with new hand-drawn figures. Over 50 colour photographs, together with the informative text and an accompanying website with links to video clips, appendices, textboxes and further reading lists, encourage a deeper scientific study of insects. The book is intended as the principal text for students studying entomology, as well as a reference text for undergraduate and graduate courses in the fields of ecology, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, palaeontology, zoology, and medical and veterinary science.
structure, function, behaviour, ecology and classification are integrated with appropriate molecular studies. Much of the book is organized around major biological living on the ground, in water, on plants, in colonies, and as predators, parasites/parasitoids and prey insects. A strong evolutionary theme is maintained throughout. There is major revision to the chapter on systematics and a new chapter, Insects in a Changing World, includes insect responses to, and the consequences of, both climate change and human-assisted global alterations to distributions. Updated ‘Taxoboxes’ demonstrate topical issues and provide concise information on all aspects of each of the 28 major groupings (orders) of insects, plus the three orders of non-insect hexapods. New boxes describe a worrying increase in insect threats to landscape and commercial trees (including eucalypts, palms and coffee) and explain the value of genetic data, including evolutionary developmental biology and DNA barcoding, in insect biodiversity studies.
The authors maintain the clarity and conciseness of earlier editions, and extend the profuse illustrations with new hand-drawn figures. Over 50 colour photographs, together with the informative text and an accompanying website with links to video clips, appendices, textboxes and further reading lists, encourage a deeper scientific study of insects. The book is intended as the principal text for students studying entomology, as well as a reference text for undergraduate and graduate courses in the fields of ecology, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, palaeontology, zoology, and medical and veterinary science.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
52 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 17, 2018
This was recommended from my teacher for the entomology exam and it worked for the purpose. I found it clear nonetheless.
January 23, 2020
Entomoloji hakkında üniversitede ders kitabı olarak okutulacak kadar ayrıntılı bilgiler içeren bir kitap. Böceklere merakı olan herkesin elinin altında bulunması gerekiyor.
July 3, 2020
Exactly what I wanted, which is a broad description of insects in general, going deep into the body parts.
The book covers the entire spectrum of insects forms and environments, with lots of diagrams showing the working parts, and brief explanations on how they work.
The diagrams are easy to view, and when a picture shows a particular insect, you can identify the species. But the purpose of the writing is focused on understanding where the body parts are and what they do.
The book covers the entire spectrum of insects forms and environments, with lots of diagrams showing the working parts, and brief explanations on how they work.
The diagrams are easy to view, and when a picture shows a particular insect, you can identify the species. But the purpose of the writing is focused on understanding where the body parts are and what they do.
February 3, 2016
This will be one of the few science books I have abandoned. Very complicated book for an entomology novice. I found myself looking up every other word, which took away from the flow of the book. Perhaps a list of terms at the beginning of each chapter would have helped. However, the illustrations were very helpful. I learned a lot, just not as much as I could have, had the flow been better.
January 12, 2015
Almost no pictures, only drawings to illustrate. Boooooooo.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews