Insects As 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.

This overview of the roles of alien species in insect conservation brings together information, evidence and examples from many parts of the world to illustrate their impacts (often severe, but in many cases poorly understood and unpredictable) as one of the primary drivers of species declines, ecological changes and biotic homogenisation. Both accidental and deliberate movements of species are involved, with alien invasive plants and insects the major groups of concern for their influences on native insects and their environments. Risk assessments, stimulated largely through fears of non-target impacts of classical biological control agents introduced for pest management, have provided valuable lessons for wider conservation biology. They emphasise the needs for effective biosecurity, risk avoidance and minimisation, and evaluation and management of alien invasive species as both major components of many insect species conservation programmes and harbingers of change in invaded communities. The spread of highly adaptable ecological generalist invasive species, which are commonly difficult to detect or monitor, can be linked to declines and losses of numerous localised ecologically specialised insects and disruptions to intricate ecological interactions and functions, and create novel interactions with far-reaching consequences for the receiving environments. Understanding invasion processes and predicting impacts of alien species on susceptible native insects is an important theme in practical insect conservation.

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!

Emerald Ash Borers have shiny green bodies and an appetite for ash trees. This native Asian insect hitchhiked to North America and has killed millions of ash trees. Learn more about the emerald ash borer and what is being done to try to stop its spread.

"A look at insect species that infest homes and other buildings and what can be done to prevent unwanted visitors from invading your home"--

From fabric-munching moth caterpillars and hungry houseflies to fur-dwelling fleas and biting bedbugs, our houses are homes to thousands of creatures that feed on our clothes, our food and garbage, our pets, and even human blood! Filled with fascinating facts, Icky House Invaders takes young readers on a voyage that will open their eyes to the tiniest, most unwelcome houseguests imaginable. Combining vivid, full-color electron microscope images and a controlled text that contains a wealth of information, Icky House Invaders is guaranteed to get young readers buzzing about the wonders of a world that exists right before our eyes—and just beyond our sight.