Geoff M. Gurr & Stephen D. Wratten 
Biodiversity and Insect Pests [EPUB ebook] 
Key Issues for Sustainable Management

Preface, vii
Foreword, ix
Contributors, x
INTRODUCTION, 1
1 Biodiversity and insect pests, 3
Geoff M. Gurr, Steve D. Wratten and William E. Snyder
FUNDAMENTALS, 21
2 The ecology of biodiversity-biocontrol relationships,
23
William E. Snyder and Jason M. Tylianakis
3 The role of generalist predators in terrestrial food webs:
lessons for agricultural pest management, 41
K.D. Welch, R.S. Pfannenstiel and J.D. Harwood
4 Ecological economics of biodiversity use for pest management,
57
Mark Gillespie and Steve D. Wratten
5 Soil fertility, biodiversity and pest management, 72
Miguel A. Altieri, Luigi Ponti and Clara I. Nicholls
6 Plant biodiversity as a resource for natural products for
insect pest management, 85
Opender Koul
7 The ecology and utility of local and landscape scale effects
in pest management, 106
Sagrario Gámez-Virués, Mattias Jonsson and Barbara
Ekbom
METHODS, 121
8 Scale effects in biodiversity and biological control: methods
and statistical analysis, 123
Christoph Scherber, Blas Lavandero, Katrin M. Meyer, David
Perovic, Ute Visser, Kerstin Wiegand and Teja Tscharntke
9 Pick and mix: selecting flowering plants to meet the
requirements of target biological control insects, 139
Felix L. Wäckers and Paul C.J. van Rijn
10 The molecular revolution: using polymerase chain reaction
based methods to explore the role of predators in terrestrial food
webs, 166
William O.C. Symondson
11 Employing chemical ecology to understand and exploit
biodiversity for pest management, 185
David G. James, Sofia Orre-Gordon, Olivia L. Reynolds (née
Kvedaras) and Marja Simpson
APPLICATION, 197
12 Using decision theory and sociological tools to facilitate
adoption of biodiversity-based pest management strategies,
199
M.M. Escalada and K.L. Heong
13 Ecological engineering strategies to manage insect pests in
rice, 214
Geoff M. Gurr, K.L. Heong, J.A. Cheng and J. Catindig
14 China’s ‘Green Plant Protection’ initiative: coordinated
promotion of biodiversity-related technologies, 230
Lu Zhongxian, Yang Yajun, Yang Puyun and Zhao Zhonghua
15 Diversity and defence: plant-herbivore interactions at
multiple scales and trophic levels, 241
Finbarr G. Horgan
16 ‘Push-pull’ revisited: the process of successful
deployment of a chemical ecology based pest management tool,
259
Zeyaur R. Khan, Charles A.O. Midega, Jimmy Pittchar, Toby J.A.
Bruce and John A. Pickett
17 Using native plant species to diversify agriculture,
276
Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner and Jean Tompkins
18 Using biodiversity for pest suppression in urban landscapes,
293
Paula M. Shrewsbury and Simon R. Leather
19 Cover crops and related methods for enhancing agricultural
biodiversity and conservation biocontrol: successful case studies,
309
P.G. Tillman, H.A. Smith and J.M. Holland
SYNTHESIS, 329
20 Conclusion: biodiversity as an asset rather than a burden,
331
Geoff M. Gurr, William E. Snyder, Steve D. Wratten and Donna
M.Y. Read
Index, 340
Colour plates fall between pages 84 and 85

Geoff Gurr is Professor of Applied Ecology at Charles Sturt
University in Australia. Over the last two decades he has worked on
the ecology and management of pests in systems as diverse as
pastures and forests. Much of his recent work has been with
collaborators throughout Asia where insecticide resistance in
sucking pests of rice has driven the development and adoption of
biodiversity-based management strategies.
Steve Wratten is Professor of Ecology at Lincoln
University, New Zealand and Visiting Professor at Charles Sturt
University in Australia. His main research concerns evaluating and
enhancing ‘nature’s services’ (ecosystem services). Using resource
economics techniques, the existing value of these services (such
things as biological control of pests) is estimated and then
habitat manipulation (‘ecological engineering’) is used to enhance
these services on farmland to provide profit and real evidence of
sustainability. This work is done across several agricultural
sectors but especially in vineyards.
William Snyder is Professor of Entomology at Washington
State University, USA. With the help of a small army of students
and postdocs, he explores the relationship between biodiversity and
biocontrol. Recent work focuses on the relative importance of the
two components of biodiversity, species number (richness) and
species balance (evenness), and practical ways for farmers to
harness biodiversity’s many benefits.
Donna Read is a Research Assistant at Charles Sturt
University, Australia with interests in rural sociology,
agricultural economics and horticulture.