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University of California Press

Specialization, Speciation, and Radiation

The Evolutionary Biology of Herbivorous Insects
by Kelley Tilmon (Editor)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $85.00 / £71.00
Publication Date: Jan 2008
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 360
ISBN: 9780520933828
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About the Book

The intimate associations between plants and the insects that eat them have helped define and shape both groups for millions of years. This pioneering volume is a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of the evolutionary biology of herbivorous insects, including their relationships with host plants and natural enemies. Chapters focus on the dynamic relationships between insects and plants from the standpoint of evolutionary change at different levels of biological organization—individuals, populations, species, and clades. Written by prominent evolutionary biologists, entomologists, and ecologists, the chapters are organized into three sections: Evolution of Populations and Species; Co- and Macroevolutionary Radiation; and Evolutionary Aspects of Pests, Invasive Species, and the Environment. The volume is unified by the idea that understanding the ecological framework of the interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants is fundamental to understanding their evolution.

About the Author

Kelley J. Tilmon is an Assistant Professor of Entomology in the Plant Science Department at South Dakota State University.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Chemical Mediation of Host-Plant Specialization—the Papilionid Paradigm
2. Evolution of Preference and Performance Relationships
3. Evolutionary Ecology of Polyphagy
4. Phenotypic Plasticity in Plant-Herbivore Interactions
5. Selection and Genetic Architecture of Plant Resistance
6. Genetic Introgression and Parapatric Speciation in a Hybrid Zone
7. Host Shifts, the Evolution of Communication, and Speciation in the Enchenopa binotata Species Complex of Treehoppers
8. Host Fruit-Odor Discrimination and Sympatric Host-Race Formation in Rhagoletis pomonella
9. Comparative Analyses and the Study of Ecological Speciation in Herbivorous Insects
10. Sympatric Speciation in Herbivorous Insects: Norm or Exception?
11. Insights from Remote Islands on Insect-Plant Interactions
12. Selection by Pollinators and Herbivores on Attraction and Defense
13. Adaptive Radiation: Phylogenetic Constraints and their Ecological Consequences
14. Sequential Radiation through Host-Race Formation: Insect Herbivore Diversity Leads to Diversity in Natural Enemies
15. Host-Plant Range and Speciation: The Oscillation Hypothesis
16. Coevolution, Cryptic Speciation, and the Persistence of Plant-Insect Interactions
17. Cophylogeny of Figs, Pollinators, Gallers and Parasitoids
18. The Phylogenetic Dimension of Insect-Plant Assemblages: A Review of Recent Evidence
19. Evolution of Insect Resistance to Transgenic Plants
20. Exotic Plants in an Altered Enemy Landscape: Effects on Enemy Resistance
21. Life-History Evolution in Native and Introduced Populations
22. Rapid Natural and Anthropogenic Diet Evolution: Three Examples From Checkerspot Butterflies
23. Conservation of Coevolved Insect Herbivores and Plants

Reviews

“This book will be an important resource for insect ecologists for many years.”
— Choice
“A wonderful addition to the field . . . Everyone will find something of interest. . . Provides a wealth of information and approaches to digest.”
— Evolution: Intl Journal Of Organic Evolution
“A treasure-house of new information and concepts . . . . Written lucidly with high quality printing and illustration, and comparatively low cost - [these] are additional attractions for favor of recommending this book for all libraries and institutions throughout the world.”
— Environment And Ecology
“Albeit this is not a textbook you need to read from the beginning to the end, the broad range of evolutionary topics, all united by the common theme of plant–insect interactions, is that interesting and stimulating you might wish to exactly do that.”
— Basic & Applied Ecology
“An influential volume in insect-plant research for years to come.”
— Quarterly Review Of Biology
"This volume captures the state-of-the-art in the study of insect-plant interactions, and marks the transformation of the field into evolutionary biology. The contributors present integrative reviews of uniformly high quality that will inform and inspire generations of academic and applied biologists. Their presentation together provides an invaluable synthesis of perspectives that is rare in any discipline."—Brian D. Farrell, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

"Tilmon has assembled a truly wonderful and rich volume, with contributions from the lion's share of fine minds in evolution and ecology of herbivorous insects. The topics comprise a fascinating and deep coverage of what has been discovered in the prolific recent decades of research with insects on plants. Fascinating chapters provide deep analyses of some of the most interesting research on these interactions. From insect plant chemistry, behavior, and host shifting to phylogenetics, co-evolution, life-history evolution, and invasive plant-insect interaction, one is hard pressed to name a substantial topic not included. This volume will launch a hundred graduate seminars and find itself on the shelf of everyone who is anyone working in this rich landscape of disciplines."—Donald R. Strong, Professor of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis

"Seldom have so many excellent authors been brought together to write so many good chapters on so many important topics in organismic evolutionary biology. Tom Wood, always unassuming and inspired by living nature, would have been amazed and pleased by this tribute."—Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute