I have been fascinated by managing insect pest populations since childhood when I assisted my mother in her vegetable garden by hand removing Colorado potato beetles from potato plants. I have also been interested, since childhood, in seeing the world beyond Nebraska when I laid on my back in the pasture on grandma’s farm, watching planes flying to exotic destinations. These two interests led me to obtain advanced degrees in entomology which provided the opportunity to conduct rice entomology research in those exotic places dreamed of in my grandma’s pasture. I read the five books recommended to develop my rice entomology research program and as reference material for scientific publications.
I loved this book because it provided me, a new and inexperienced rice entomologist at the International Rice Research Institute, with the status of rice entomology research in Asia.
This book, which consists of the proceedings of a symposium, includes 37 chapters written by the world’s leading rice entomologists on rice insect taxonomy, distribution, biology, physiology, and control methods and includes recommendations for future research.
As such, I found this classic book as a guide for developing a holistic research program for the management of rice insect pests targeted at smallholder rice farmers in Asia.
I liked this book because it provided me, a young rice entomologist, with details on rice virus diseases and their transmission, which is primarily via insect vectors. This information was of immense value to me as I developed my rice entomology research program at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Philippines, in 1975.
This book was a guide that provided the required knowledge needed in my role of developing a program for the evaluation of rice germplasm accessions to identify resistant insect/rice virus disease accessions for the use as donors in the rice breeding program.
To develop an integrated pest management (IPM) program for rice viruses, it is necessary to be able to identify the virus vector, mode of virus transmission (mostly insects), damage symptoms, host range of the virus, and rice varieties having genetic resistance to the virus and the vector. This book provided that information.
Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”
As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…
I loved this book because it provides the world’s best example of a minor pest that became a major pest because of the change in cultural practices that accompanied the advent of the Green Revolution in rice. It is also the best example of pest resurgence, which occurs when pests previously controlled by pesticides recur but in higher numbers than they did before due to the destruction of the pest’s natural enemies by pesticides.
This book consists of 22 chapters presented by world-renowned authors at a 1979 symposium on the economic impact of the pest, biology and ecology, taxonomy, forecasting, migration, and the development of integrated pest management practices to control the brown planthopper. As such, I found this classic book as a guide for developing a holistic research program for managing the brown planthopper targeted to resource-poor rice farmers in Asia.
I love this book because it is the only book produced by a national rice research program that includes all the biotic factors limiting rice production: insect pests, vertebrates (rodents and birds), plant diseases (fungi, bacterial viral, and phytoplasma), nematodes and weeds. The distribution, damage, description, biology, and management are described for each pest. It also contains a chapter on yield loss, control strategies, and rice IPM.
The book is unique as it is the only one covering pests of deepwater and floating rice which are prevalent ecosystems in Bangladesh. A bibliography with an extensive list of references, an appendix, and a detailed glossary are included. It has sufficient information to serve as an excellent supplement for university students majoring in plant protection.
Rice is the staple food crop of Bangladesh. During the last four decades rice production has been transformed from a low input, traditional system to an intensive, high- yielding system relying on high inputs which has strongly influenced the incidence and abundance of rice pests. At the same time and during the same period, great strides were made in our understanding of the ecology of pests and therefore their management. We moved from a dependence on pesticides to an ecological approach based on the principles of integrated pest management (1PM). However, this radical change in strategy, so vital for pest…
I love this book because it contains 411 pages of well-balanced, authoritative, readily applicable information that ranks it as one of—if not the—most usable and pertinent works ever printed. The line drawings, charts, and technical illustrations provide a guide to the pest status, damage, development, and management of insects, diseases, weeds, and rats in a form that farmers easily understand.
I also like this book because the limited text can easily be translated and, therefore, applicable in all Asian countries. In addition, the information offered and the approach to transmitting it can be readily adapted and modified to become the basis for parallel works oriented to different crops and ecological zones. This book provides a new approach to transferring crop protection technology.
This book is a classic as it effectively uses the unique knowledge and expertise of leading rice entomologists from Africa, Asia, and the Americas to provide the first global coverage of rice insect pests. With over 150 high-quality color photographs, the book covers almost 100 species of the most important insect pests affecting rice cultivation and brings together the key research on each pest, including geographical distribution, plant hosts other than rice, descriptions and biology, plant damage, and ecology.
This book is the result of my research over 20 years and the primary research of my co-authors. It provides the basic information needed to develop effective and integrated pest management (IPM) programs targeted to resource-poor farmers.
Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”
As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…
