Cockroaches! Even a mere mention of the word causes many people to recoil in horror. However, of the hundreds of species of cockroaches (or blattodeans as they are known) found in Australia, only a small number of them give the group a bad name. Just a few species that are commonly found in homes, restaurants and hospitals are responsible for thousands of dollars in expenditure to comply with health standards. A Guide to the Cockroaches of Australia is a comprehensive account of most of the 550 described species found in Australia. The book reveals their diversity and beauty, it looks in detail at their morphology, habitats and ecology, and explains how to collect and preserve them. Importantly, it will allow pest controllers, students and researchers to reliably identify most of the common pest species as well as the non-pest cockroaches. It will also, perhaps, go some way towards elevating the reputation of these much-maligned insects, and promote further study of them. 2014 Whitley Award Commendation for Field Guide.

A walk in the bush reveals insects visiting flowers, patrolling the air, burrowing under bark and even biting your skin. Every insect has characteristic feeding preferences and behaviours. Insects of South-Eastern Australia is a unique field guide that uses host plants and behavioural attributes as the starting point for identifying insects. Richly illustrated with colour photographs, the different species of insects found in Australia’s temperate south-east, including plant feeders, predators, parasites and decomposers, are presented. The guide is complemented by an introduction to the insects of the region, including their environment, classification, life history, feeding strategies and behaviour. Fascinating boxes on camouflage, mimicry and many other topics are also included throughout. Whether you are a field naturalist, entomologist or just want to know what’s in your backyard, Insects of South-Eastern Australia will help you to identify the insects most likely to be encountered, as well as understand the basics of their ecology and behaviour.

We can’t avoid insects. They scurry past us in the kitchen, pop up in our gardens, or are presented to us in jars by inquisitive children. Despite encountering them on a daily basis, most people don’t know an aphid from an antlion, and identifying an insect using field guides or internet searches can be daunting. Miniature Lives provides a range of simple strategies that people can use to identify and learn more about the insects in their homes and gardens. Featuring a step-by-step, illustrated identification key and detailed illustrations and colour photographs, the book guides the reader through the basics of entomology (the study of insects). Simple explanations, amusing analogies and quirky facts describe where insects live, how they grow and protect themselves, the clues they leave behind and their status as friend or foe in a way that is both interesting and easy to understand. Gardeners, nature lovers, students, teachers, and parents and grandparents of bug-crazed kids will love this comprehensive guide to the marvellous diversity of insects that surrounds us and the miniature lives they lead.

Australian Deserts: Ecology and Landscapes is about the vast sweep of the Outback, a land of expanses making up three-quarters of the continent – the heart of Australia. Steve Morton brings his extensive first-hand knowledge and experience of arid Australia to this book, explaining how Australian deserts work ecologically. This book outlines why unpredictable rainfall and paucity of soil nutrients underpin the nature of desert ecosystems, while also describing how plants and animals came to be desert dwellers through evolutionary time. It shows how plants use uncertain rainfall to provide for persistence of their populations, alongside outlines of the dominant animals of the deserts and explanations of the features that help them succeed in the face of aridity and uncertainty. Richly illustrated with the photographs of Mike Gillam, this fascinating and accessible book will enhance your understanding of the nature of arid Australia.

Volume Two of the new guide to the study of biodiversity in insects Volume Two of Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society presents an entirely new, companion volume of a comprehensive resource for the most current research on the influence insects have on humankind and on our endangered environment. With contributions from leading researchers and scholars on the topic, the text explores relevant topics including biodiversity in different habitats and regions, taxonomic groups, and perspectives. Volume Two offers coverage of insect biodiversity in regional settings, such as the Arctic and Asia, and in particular habitats including crops, caves, and islands. The authors also include information on historical, cultural, technical, and climatic perspectives of insect biodiversity. This book explores the wide variety of insect species and their evolutionary relationships. Case studies offer assessments on how insect biodiversity can help meet the needs of a rapidly expanding human population, and examine the consequences that an increased loss of insect species will have on the world. This important text: Offers the most up-to-date information on the important topic of insect biodiversity Explores vital topics such as the impact on insect biodiversity through habitat loss and degradation and climate change With its companion Volume I, presents current information on the biodiversity of all insect orders Contains reviews of insect biodiversity in culture and art, in the fossil record, and in agricultural systems Includes scientific approaches and methods for the study of insect biodiversity The book offers scientists, academics, professionals, and students a guide for a better understanding of the biology and ecology of insects, highlighting the need to sustainably manage ecosystems in an ever-changing global environment.

Losses of forests and their insect inhabitants are a major global conservation concern, spanning tropical and temperate forest regions throughout the world. This broad overview of Australian forest insect conservation draws on studies from many places to demonstrate the diversity and vulnerability of forest insects and how their conservation may be pursued through combinations of increased understanding, forest protection and silvicultural management in both natural and plantation forests. The relatively recent history of severe human disturbance to Australian forests ensures that reasonably natural forest patches remain and serve as ‘models’ for many forest categories. They are also refuges for many forest biota extirpated from the wider landscapes as forests are lost, and merit strenuous protection from further changes, and wider efforts to promote connectivity between otherwise isolated remnant patches. In parallel, the recent attention to improving forest insect conservation in harmony with insect pest management continues to benefit from perspectives generated from better-documented faunas elsewhere. Lessons from the northern hemisphere, in particular, have led to revelations of the ecological importance and vulnerability of many insect taxa in forests, together with clear evidence that ‘conservation can work’ in concert with wider forest uses. A brief outline of the variety of Australian tropical and temperate forests and woodlands, and of the multitude of endemic and, often, highly localised insects that depend on them highlights needs for conservation (both of single focal species and wider forest-dependent radiations and assemblages). The ways in which insects contribute to sustained ecological integrity of these complex ecosystems provide numerous opportunities for practical conservation.

Australia’s varied grasslands have suffered massive losses and changes since European settlement, and those changes continue under increasingly intensive human pressures for development and agricultural production. The values of native grasslands for conservation of endemic native biodiversity, both flora and fauna, have led to strong interests in the protection of remaining fragments, especially near urban centres, and documentation of the insects and other inhabitants of grasslands spanning tropical to cool temperate parts of the country. Attention to conservation of grassland insects in Australia is relatively recent, but it is increasingly apparent that grasslands harbour many localised and ecologically specialised endemic species. Their conservation necessarily advances from very incomplete documentation, and draws heavily on lessons from the far better-documented grasslands elsewhere, most notably in the northern hemisphere, and undertaken over far longer periods. From those cases, and the extensive background to grassland management to harmonise conservation with production and amenity values through honing use of processes such as grazing, mowing and fire, the needs and priorities for Australia can become clearer, together with needs for grassland restoration at a variety of scales. This book is a broad overview of conservation needs of grassland insects in Australia, drawing on the background provided elsewhere in the world on the responses to disturbances, and the ecological importance, of some key insect groups (notably Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) to suggest how insect conservation in native, pastoral and urban grasslands may be advanced. The substantial references given for each chapter facilitate entry for non-entomologist grassland managers and stewards to appreciate the diversity and importance of Australia’s grassland insects, their vulnerabilities to changes, and the possibilities for conserving them and the wider ecological roles in which they participate.

Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, Fourth Edition: Keys to Neotropical Hexapoda, Volume Three, provides a guide for identifying and evaluating a key subphylum, hexapoda, for Central America, South America and the Antarctic. This book is essential for anyone working in water quality management, conservation, ecology or related fields in this region, and is developed to be the most modern and consistent set of taxonomic keys available. It is part of a series that is designed to provide a highly comprehensive, current set of keys for a given bioregion, with all keys written in a consistent style. This series can be used for a full spectrum of interested readers, from students, to university professors and government agencies. - Includes zoogeographic coverage of the entire Neotropics, from central México and the Caribbean Islands, to the tip of South America - Identifies aquatic springtails (Collembola) and insects to the genus level for many groups, and family or subfamily level for less well known taxa - Presents multiple keys, from higher to lower taxonomic levels that are appropriate for each users' level of scientific knowledge and needs - Provides a general introduction and sections on limitations, terminology and morphology, material preparation and preservation, and references

As a species, the German cockroach is one of the most widespread indoor urban pests worldwide. While numerous products have been developed to control their spread, German cockroaches continue to contaminate food, transmit disease and cause significant, long-term economic expense to homes, restaurants, hospitals and more. Biology and Management of the German Cockroach summarises the many advances in management technology, products, delivery systems, and basic and applied research over the past 25 years. Leading researchers explain why the German cockroach is a medically important pest and how its microbiome can provide new insights on cockroach physiology and potential novel targets for control. The authors also address the research from a practical standpoint, detailing why baits have replaced sprays as the primary method of control and how population genetic studies allow for better understanding of cockroach dispersal and population structure. Leading experts on integrated pest management (IPM) explore how studies on German cockroach control programs demonstrate the value and feasibility of IPM in urban environments. This book provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the German cockroach and will be a valuable reference for researchers, graduate students, pest management professionals, health workers and government agencies dealing with urban pests and pesticides.

The Invertebrate World of Australia’s Subtropical Rainforests is a comprehensive review of Australia’s Gondwanan rainforest invertebrate fauna, covering its taxonomy, distribution, biogeography, fossil history, plant community and insect–plant relationships. This is the first work to document the invertebrate diversity of this biologically important region, as well as explain the uniqueness and importance of the organisms. This book examines invertebrates within the context of the plant world that they are dependent on and offers an understanding of Australia’s outstanding (but still largely unknown) subtropical rainforests. All major, and many minor, invertebrate taxa are described and the book includes a section of colour photos of distinctive species. There is also a strong emphasis on plant and habitat associations and fragmentation impacts, as well as a focus on the regionally inclusive Gondwana Rainforests (Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia) World Heritage Area. The Invertebrate World of Australia’s Subtropical Rainforests will be of value to professional biologists and ecologists, as well as amateur entomologists and naturalists in Australia and abroad.