Insect Invaders

The class is turned into insects to learn about them.

Insect invaders may be small in size, but the problems they cause are huge! Find out why and how insect invasions occur and what we can do to help. This title supports NGSS standards for Earth and human activity.

When Wanda brings her pet ladybugs to school to learn how to take care of them, Ms. Frizzle decides to teach the class about insects, and soon the entire class learns many surprising things about the insect world.

Watch out - the mad scientist has unleashed havoc on the world. The mutant bugs he created have escaped, and it's up to children to capture the icky insects and blast them off to outer space forever. Run through the junkyard, in and out and around the tires, and dash into a house under buggy siege. Quick....grab them in the classroom, snatch them in the swamp, and follow them all across town. They're slinky, they're slimy, but they're not smarter than you: there the rocket awaits, its hatch open to trap the invaders. Herd them inside--BOOM to the moon!

Reflects on insect pests' evolution by evaluating existing theories, documenting case studies of diverse pest species and presenting new concepts regarding the problem of variation and implications for pest management strategies. Leading experts offer contributions which deal with variations in genetic markers and ecologically meaningful traits as well as future perspectives in entomology and biosystematics.

The diversity of the earth's climates superimposed upon a complex configuration of physical features has provided the conditions for the evolution of a remarkable array of living things which are linked together into complex ecosystems. The kinds of organisms comprising the ecosystems of the world, and the nature of their interactions, have constantly changed through time due to coevolutionary interactions along with the effects of a continually changing physical environ ment. In recent evolutionary time there has been a dramatic and ever-accelerating rate of change in the configuration of these ecosystems because of the increasing influence of human beings. These changes range from subtle modifications caused by anthropogenically induced alterations in atmospheric properties to the total destruction of ecosystems. Many of these modifications have provided the fuel, food, and fiber which have allowed the expansion of human populations. Unfortunately, there have been many unanticipated changes which accompanied these modifications which have had effects detrimental to human welfare in cluding substantial changes in water and air quality. For example, the use of high-sulfur coal to produce energy in parts of North America is altering the properties of freshwater lakes and forests because of acidification.

Insects and Wildlife: Arthropods and their Relationships with Wild Vertebrate Animals provides a comprehensive overview of the interrelationships of insects and wildlife. It serves as an introduction to insects and other arthropods for wildlife management and other vertebrate biology students, and emphasizes the importance of insects to wild vertebrate animals. The book emphasizes how insects exert important influences on wildlife habitat suitability and wildlife population sustainability, including their direct and indirect effects on wildlife health. Among the important topics covered are: the importance of insects as food items for vertebrate animals; the role of arthropods as determinants of ecosystem health and productivity; the ability of arthropods to transmit disease-causing agents; an overview of representative disease-causing agents transmitted by arthropods; arthropods as pests and parasites of vertebrates; the hazards to wildlife associated with using using pesticides to protect against insect damage; insect management using techniques other than pesticides; the importance of insect conservation and how insects influence wildlife conservation.