Macrocosm Helping Plants 1. Pollinating 2. Dispersing Seeds 3. Supplying Food 4. Providing Defense Helping Animals 5. Giving Sustenance 6. Giving Protection Limiting Population Growth 7. Controlling Plant Populations 8. Controlling Insect Populations 9. Controlling Vertebrate Populations Cleaning Up 10. Recycling Dead Animals 11. Recycling Dung 12. Recycling Dead Plants Microcosm Selected Readings Acknowledgments Index
Gilbert Waldbauer is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Persuasive, rollicking, and informative...He may not get you to hug
your termites, but you will see them in a whole new light. Bugs are
truly awesome in numbers and variety...On the surface, bugs seem so
alien to us. But in anecdote after anecdote, Waldbauer gives us
plenty with which we can identify...Waldbauer celebrates not only
the good things bugs do but also the bizarre...What Waldbauer shows
us is that bugs are vitally important to our planet. They help
plant life grow. They are great cleanup crews, removing waste
material...They till and aerate soil. They provide food for all
kinds of animals, including fish and birds and some
mammals...Clearly, bugs are good. -- Vicki Croke * Boston Globe
*
This book will open the eyes of readers who, like the great
majority of mankind, regard insects with contempt or disgust. It
will make them look on our six-legged fellow creatures with more
interest and sympathy, and will thus add a new dimension to their
own lives. -- Anthony Daniels * Sunday Telegraph (UK) *
Written in a gentle style that is easy to read yet still
authoritative, the breadth of insect ecology is paraded before us.
-- Richard Jones * BBC Wildlife *
Waldbauer is an entomologist with an unwavering verve for his
pursuits. Here he catalogs ecologically important insects by their
'occupations' within an ecosystem, explaining how they live and how
they make possible life in general. Among insects' occupations are
their roles in regulating plant and animal populations and tilling
the soil. In some cases, their capabilities and behaviors are
nothing short of mind-boggling. Waldbauer reports that one species
of Great Plains ants has brought to the surface about 1.7 tons of
subsoil per acre. An average colony of honeybees harvests 44 pounds
of pollen and 265 pounds of nectar a year. Such anecdotes combine
with the author's keen insight into the mechanics of ecosystems to
make a strong case on behalf of the lowly insect. * Science News
*
Waldbauer gives us a bugs-eye view of the world in this
well-written and entertaining book that will change the way you
think about insects. -- B.F. * Southeastern Naturalist *
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