A host of parasitoid solos

Abstract

Parasitoid Population Biologyedited by M.E. Hochberg and A.R. Ives.Princeton University Press, 2000.$24.95/£15.95 pbk (xii + 366 pages).ISBN 0 691 04982 3.This edited volume comprises 16 chapters by 16 authors on parasitoid population dynamics, diversity and applications, and two editorial chapters, one introductory, the other debating and concluding. It is no accident that each core chapter has a single author: the editors wanted fresh perspectives from opinionated authors, without veto by co-authors. The resulting chapters are short, punchy and generally very good.The section on population dynamics begins with a plea for more field rather than laboratory and theoretical studies: J. Casas states that ‘Both the industry of near-perfect petri-dish experiments and the decade-long bivariate host-population dynamics have left the misleading impression that host–parasitoid systems are tightly coupled pairwise interactions occurring in a vacuum’. In reality, parasitoid behaviours and dynamics are influenced by many factors. It is disappointing that Casas’ plea is still needed, as this very point was debated at least five years ago and seemed to be being addressed 1xEntomophagous insects: progress in evolutionary and applied ecology. Hardy, I.C.W. et al. Trends Ecol. Evol. 1995; 10: 96–97Abstract | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (4)See all