Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us.GILBERT WALDBAUER On the whole, bugs get a bum 1. bum - To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code." "I spent half the night bumming the interrupt code. rap. Insects perform invaluable services toward the maintenance of Earth's ecosystems. Nonetheless, about 2 percent of insects do qualify as pests. In this book, Waldbauer exposes the hidden lives of this less desirable and sometimes-deadly minority of bugs. While these insects, including the mosquito mosquito (məskē`tō), small, long-legged insect of the order Diptera, the true flies. The females of most species have piercing and sucking mouth parts and apparently they must feed at least once upon mammalian blood before their eggs can , tsetse fly tsetse fly (tsĕt`sē), name for any of several bloodsucking African flies of the genus Glossina, and in the same family as the housefly. , and gypsy moth gypsy moth, common name for a moth, Lymantria dispar, of the tussock moth family, native to Europe and Asia. Its caterpillars, or larvae, defoliate deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. Introduced from Europe into Massachusetts c. , are notorious for wreaking havoc on crops and spreading disease, the author shows that it's the insects that struggle to survive. Each chapter chronicles the life cycle, defense mechanisms, and evolution of a different insect pest. Waldbauer emphasizes that insects have proliferated primarily because of their adaptability--in particular, their capacity to overcome the pesticides used to control and eliminate them. He concludes that insects, even the pests among them, have a great deal to teach people about natural selection. Prometheus Bks., 2005, 311 p., color plates, paperback, $18.00. |
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