This unique book is the first of its kind to explore the diversity of interactions between insects and birds. A group of international experts enthusiastically agreed to contribute to the four sections of the book following the success of an Entomological Club Conference on Insect and Bird Interactions. The first section covers population management issues, discussing effects on birds highly relevant to the planting of large areas of GM crops, new opportunities for increasing biodiversity in farming landscapes, and the novel aspect of managing insects by exploiting birds as biological control agents. This is followed by a section discussing the effects of insecticides on bird populations, and includes a contribution from the RSPB, as well as a re-appraisal of the effects of DDT on raptors. Next, the foraging behaviour of birds on insects is discussed, with chapters also on 'warning' coloration in insects and learning by birds. The first chapter in this section is unusual in having been written by an ophthalmologist and covers colour vision in birds, more specifically ultraviolet vision in relation to insect coloration. Finally, the authors look at insects that are parasites of birds or feed on the detritus in nests, and review the ecology and evolution of the co-adaptation of insect ectoparasites with birds.
Insect and Bird Interactions is unparalleled in scope and coverage and will be of interest to entomologists, ornithologists, and ecologists alike. TOC:From the contents
Case study: an example of the kind of study now needed for insectivorous birds - population level implications of variations in prey availability and quality in shorebirds: what we see is not necessarily what they get.- Birds of lowland arable farmland: the importance and identification of invertebrate diversity in the diet of chicks.- Insects as food for farmland birds - is there a problem? The impact of agriculture and some solutions for arthropods and birds.- Productivity and profitability: the effects of farming practices on the prey of insectivorous birds.- Birds as predators of lepidopterous larvae.- Can pesticides cause reductions in bird populations?- Interactions between an endangered bird species, non-endemic insect pests, and insecticides: the deployment of insect growth regulators in the conservation of the Seychelles magpie-robin (Copsychus sechellarum).- Organochlorine insecticides and raptors in Britain.- Vision in birds: the avian retina.- Avian ultraviolet vision and its implications for insect defensive coloration.- Warning colours and warning smells: how birds learn to avoid aposematic insects.- The chemical defences of an aposematic complex: a case study of two-spot and seven-spot ladybirds.- The effect of the odour of pyrazine and colours on recall of past events and learning in domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus).- A note on the odour of amylacetate in the role of an alerting signal.- Measuring food availability for an insectivorous bird: the case study of wrynecks and ants.- Relationship between chick diet and breeding performance of great tits in a caterpillar-poor environment.- Avian defences against ectoparasites.- The acquisition of host-specific feather lice by common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus).- Moth and bird interactions: guano, feathers, and detritophagous caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Tineidae).- Index.