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Cyanobacteria have existed for 3.5 billion years, yet they are still the most important photosynthetic organisms on the planet for cycling carbon and nitrogen.  The ecosystems where they have key roles range from the warmer oceans to many Antarctic sites.  They also include dense nuisance growths in nutrient-rich lakes and nitrogen-fixers which aid the fertility of rice-fields and many soils, especially the biological soil crusts of arid regions.   Molecular biology has in recent years provided...

A look at isopod systematics and evolution, topics confronted include the influence of genetic and extrachromasomal factors on their population rate and a comparison of different species in different habitats.

Honey bees have been described as exceptionally clever, well-organized, mutualistic, collaborative, busy, efficient--in short a perfect society. While the colony is indeed a marvel of harmonious, efficient organization, it also has a considerable dark side. Authors Robin Moritz and Robin Crewe write about the life history of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, highlighting conflict rather than harmony, failure rather than success, from the perspective of the individual worker in the colony. When one...

David Attenborough reveals a secret universe it is teeming with life and is all around us, yet we never see it. It is the world of the very small, and it is a world of sex, drugs and violence. Here David shows us not just bugs, beetles and creepy-crawlies, but scorpions and centipedes, mites and mantids, spiders and dragonflies. And not just life in the undergrowth, but the dramatic battles between predator and prey that are happening in the corner of your living room and in your larder...

Four closely related species of Pisauridae (nurseryweb spiders) are found in New Zealand; three on the mainland and one on the Chatham Islands. All species are endemic to New Zealand and are likely to be related to Australian species. The most common species is Dolomedes minor, found throughout New Zealand in scrubland, grassland, swamps and marshes. Dolomedes aquaticus is found in open riverbeds and stony lakeshores throughout the South Island and in the southern half of the North Island. A new...

This book is a new compendium in which leading termite scientists review the advances of the last 30 years in our understanding of phylogeny, fossil records, relationships with cockroaches, social evolution, nesting, behaviour, mutualisms with archaea, protists, bacteria and fungi, nutrition, energy metabolism,population and community ecology, soil conditioning, greenhouse gas production and pest status.

Research in insect population dynamics is important for more reasons than just protecting forest communities. Insect populations are among the main ecological units included in the analysis of stability of ecological systems. Moreover, it is convenient to test new methods of analyzing population and community stability on the insect-related data, as by now ecologists and entomologists have accumulated large amounts of such data. In this book, the authors analyze population dynamics of quite a na...

This volume, 9B, covers the infraorders of the Astacidea that were not covered in volume 9A (Enoplometopoidea, Nephropoidea and Glypheidea) as well as the Axiidea, Gebiidea and Anomura. With the publication of this ninth volume in the Treatise on Zoology: The Crustacea, we depart from the sequence one would normally expect. Some crustacean groups never had a French version produced, namely, the orders Stomatopoda, Euphausiacea, Amphionidacea, and Decapoda; the largest contingent of these involv...

"Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles" starts with a new classification of the world's deserts, based upon the type of precipitation to which they are subject and the effect of this on their faunas of arthropods and reptiles. This is followed by an account of microclimates and the avoidance of environmental extremes. Where thermoregulation is primarily behavioural, responses to water shortage are largely physiological. Seasonal activity and phenology are described, as well as adaptati...

An unprecedented look at the complex and beautiful world of underground ant architectureWalter Tschinkel has spent much of his career investigating the hidden subterranean realm of ant nests. This wonderfully illustrated book takes you inside an unseen world where thousands of ants build intricate homes in the soil beneath our feet.Tschinkel describes the ingenious methods he has devised to study ant nests, showing how he fills a nest with plaster, molten metal, or wax and painstakingly excavate...

The invasive Harlequin ladybird is an eye-catching and beautiful species, but it can be very difficult to identify, with huge variation in colouration and pattern. This comprehensive photographic field guide is the first complete guide to identifying Harlequin ladybirds found in Britain and Ireland.  It also covers all the other 25 conspicuous ladybird species that occur. Detailed, informative and beautifully illustrated with more than 350 remarkable colour photographs including ladybird develo...

Hailing from the island of Madagascar, these bugs are unique. Complete with horns for courting and holes for hissing, the roaches are sure to creep you out. Thankfully, hissing cockroaches keep to their forest floor and do not disturb homes. Find out more facts in this fun title for young readers.