Fungus-Insect Relationships Perspectives in Ecology and Evolution

About this book

A significant addition to the field of fungus-insect relationships, this book presents an interesting array of approaches to the subject of evolutionary and ecological associations of insects and fungi, written by both mycologists and entomologists. The editors have preserved a reasonable balance between theoretical articles, reviews, and those containing analysis of original data. Free-living relationships are stressed, complementing previously published studies on fungus-insect associations. The volume is indispensable as an introduction to modern approaches in the field, a reference on host associations, and a theoretical basis for future research. The editors and contributors have sought to achieve two goals: 1) to provide examples of current research in studies of the ecology and evolution of fungus-insect relationships, including many important techniques, references, and lists of relationships, and 2) to suggest some modern theoretical approaches to studies of a pattern which is largely historical in nature. Modern ecological and evolutionary methods are exemplified by contributions to the book, and other papers present indispensable summaries of relationships and crucial methods fro the accurate interpretation of fungus-insect associations. Because the origin of these relationships is fundamentally a historical questions, the application of recent theoretical advances in cladistic methods in biology, described and used in several papers in the book, provides fresh opportunities and challenges at the interface of mycology and entomology.

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Biography

Quentin Wheeler is assistant professor and associate curator for Coleoptera, Department of Entomology, Cornell University, and a research associate of the American Museum of Natural History. Meredith Blackwell is assistant professor of botany at Louisiana State University.