June 1997, Volume 18 No. 2

New Books

Biological Control Opportunities for Improved Crop Production

The Brighton Conference organized by the British Crop Protection Council (BCPC) is a famous venue for the agrochemical industry, and it is noteworthy that it devoted its opening, Monday Symposium in 1996 to the subject of biological control. The proceedings* of this Symposium have now been published by BCPC and are available from them.

The Symposium takes a very specific project, the use of non-indigenous natural enemies in biological control (the `biological control introductions' of the title) and takes a very broad look at this project - from public to private sector activities and from research to regulation. It does this in eight contributed papers and an introduction by Dr Jeff Waage.

The Symposium begins with a survey of the impact of classical biological control introductions, through case studies in Indonesia (Sastrosowijo), tropical Africa (Lomer et al.) and Europe (Evans and Fielding). A paper by Dr Keith Hopper then looks at researchable gaps in our capacity to do classical biological control. The Syposium then considers the growing importance of non-indigenous biological control agents in commercial pest management (Newton et al.) and finishes with presentations on how governments can and must support commercial and classical biological control introduc-tions, with case studies from the UK, Brazil and the USA.

Overall, the symposium gives a framework and some clear case studies for understanding the importance of introduced agents to both commercial and public sector pest control operations and the scientific and regulatory challenges this creates.

*Waage, J. K. (ed) (1996) Biological control introductions: opportunities for improved crop production. Proceedings of a symposium held in Brighton, UK on 18 November 1996. Farnham, UK; British Crop Protection Council, BCPC Proceedings No. 67, 144 pp.

Available from: BCPC Publications Sales, Bear Farm, Binfield, Bracknell, Berks. RG42 5QE, UK.

Tel: 0118934 2727;

Fax: 0118934 1998.

Methods in Entomology

Entomology as a branch of biological science has undergone rapid expansion and development in recent decades. There have been major advances in the technologies associated with pest management and the ecological studies that underpin much of this work. Greater emphasis is now placed on topics such as modelling and bio-chemical techniques, with new approaches to the study of insect behaviour and insecticide efficacy making inroads into traditional approaches.

This book aims to integrate the new approaches and technologies with traditional and well-proven methods. It provides a critical analysis and evaluation of methods available, through reference to general prin-ciples, but emphasis is also placed on providing detailed descriptions of methods and their application. There are 13 chapters written by leading authorities from the UK, USA and Australia. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduate and post-graduate students in entomology and pest management.

The chapters cover sampling, hand-ling and rearing of insects; techniques in quantifying insect migration, pollination, and evaluating the efficacy of insecticides and natural enemies; biochemical and molecular techniques, modelling, insect behav-iour, and quantifying insect popula-tions; statistical aspects of field experiments, injury, damage and threshold concepts and hostplant selection.

The comprehensive coverage of methods makes this book a valuable tool for all entomologists.

Dent, D. R.; Walton, M. P. (eds) (1997) Methods in ecological and agricultural entomology. Wallingford, UK;
CAB INTERNATIONAL, 400 pp.
ISBN 0 85199 1319 (hardback) and 0 85199 132 7 (paperback), price [sterling]55.00 ($99.50) hbk, [sterling]24.50 ($45.00) pbk.