P. Woiwod, D. R. Reynolds, and C. D. Thomas, Editors
CABI Publishing, New York
2001, 458 pp.
Price: $130.00 (significant discounts via amazon.com)
ISBN 0-85199-456-3

In 1976, a notable book was published by Blackwell, Oxford, entitled Insect Flight. Edited by R. C. Rainey, this book comprised the proceedings of the 7th symposium of the Royal Entomological Society of London, held in 1973. For almost 30 years, Insect Flight was the landmark single-volume text on a topic of indisputable importance to insect biology. A highly appreciated feature of this treatise was the wide range of subtopics (e.g., physiology, biomechanics, and behavior) brought together in a format allowing readers to synthesize them.

Spurred on at least in part by Insect Flight, the last quarter of the 1900s saw important contributions to basic and applied research on insect locomotion. Thus, it is fortunate that the Royal Entomological Society chose to revisit this topic for their 20th Symposium in September 1999. A major outcome was a new book that appears to be well positioned to carry on the tradition set by its predecessor.

Insect Movement: Mechanisms and Consequences is a most ambitious undertaking. Roughly half of the pages update a range of topics on insect flight and foraging behaviors. The new volume also includes material on insect walking and deals with the consequences of movement (e.g., on insect population structure and gene flow), as well as changes in the geographical ranges of species. This new volume is laden with substantial new information and is not simply an updated edition of its predecessor.

R. Dudley leads off with a masterful treatment of "The Biomechanics and Functional Diversity of Flight." He answers such key questions as: How have wings and flight capability contributed to the success of the Insecta? What are the most credible scenarios for the path of evolution resulting in flightedness? What are the important patterns in kinematics and aerodynamics? How are flight forces generated? What are the patterns seen in insect wing–beat frequencies across taxa? and What are the physical and ecological advantages of miniaturization?

R. Wootton follows with a fascinating and authoritative treatment of "How Insect Wings Evolved." His chapter is also organized around gripping questions: Where did insect wings come from? How did flight begin? What did insects need to be able to fly? Finally, what did insects need to fly well? He makes a convincing case that insect wings evolved from lateral segmental structures that were already mobile. The most plausible routes to flight are thought to be parachuting and gliding, or skimming on the surface of water. In their chapter entitled "Physiology and Endocrine Control of Flight," G. Goldsworthy and M. Joyce update the biochemical picture of how lipid metabolism is regulated during flight of locusts, revisiting and updating information about insects’ use of proline as a flight fuel.

Next come two chapters dealing with the specifics of insect foraging behaviors. J. Hardie, G. Gibson, and T. Wyatt lay out the principles and give specific examples of "Insect Behaviors Associated With Resource Finding." This chapter includes such topics as the physical structure of odor plumes and the analyses of tracks of insects flying to sex attractant pheromones, host–plant volatiles, and kairomones from blood-supplying animal hosts. W. Powell and G. Poppy summarize "Host Location by Parasitoids", covering plant volatiles and new information on herbivore-induced plant volatiles with examples of chemical espionage. A limitation of this section is that all of insect foraging behaviors are compressed into only 31 pages of text, plus references. Some readers may judge this treatment to be a bit cursory. However, a redeeming feature of the section is that the authors provide ample citations for readers who want coverage at a mastery level.

This book next turns to insect movement at the larger geographical scale and advanced techniques for measuring such displacement. In the chapter "Flight Trajectories of Foraging Insects: Observations Using Harmonic Radar," J. Riley and J. Osborne explain how harmonic radar technology was used to quantify details of bee flight, navigation, and foraging behaviors. H. Dingle provides an updated treatment of "The Evolution of Migratory Syndromes in Insects." One recent development here is a fuller understanding of the exact role insect juvenile hormone plays in morphogenesis and in expressions of behavior. R. Srygley and E. Oliveira’s treatment of insect "Orientation Mechanisms and Migration Strategies within the Flight Boundary Layer" emphasizes sun compass reactions and time compensation, as well as orientation relying on local landmarks; the authors mainly use butterflies as their examples. V. Drake et al. follow with a summary of their work on "Characterizing Insect Migration Systems in Inland Australia with Novel and Traditional Methodologies." This research tracked the movements of locusts and "used a series of rapidly developing nonbiological technologies: satellite remote sensing, automated monitoring radars, boundary-layer numerical wind-trajectory forecasts, geographic information systems, and low-cost microcomputing and telecommunications."

The series of chapters that follow turn the discussion to a more ecological and evolutionary vein. Drawing mainly on plant leafhopper data, R. Denno et al. make a convincing case for the "Significance of Habitat Persistence and Dimensionality in the Evolution of Insect Migratory Strategies." In the chapter "Predation and the Evolution of Dispersal," W. Weiser establishes that the outcomes are contextual; dispersal may in some cases increase and in other cases decrease in response to predatory pressure, or it may be conditional upon the behaviors expressed by predators. This section is capped by a fascinating chapter by N. Franks—"Evolution of Mass Transit Systems in Ants: A Tale of Two Societies"—in which he discusses patterns of convergent and divergent evolution in Old World and New World army ants with respect to patterns of movement by individuals, raiding parties, and colonies.

A timely chapter by N. Britton et al. entitled "Dispersal and Conservation in Heterogeneous Landscapes" opens the section that covers insect conservation and the effects of movement on population genetics. This is logically followed by a treatment of "Scale, Dispersal, and Population Structure" by C. Thomas and "Gene Flow" by J. Mallet. Next, H. Loxdale and G. Lushai show how it is possible to make "Use of Genetic Diversity in Movement Studies of Flying Insects" by tracking various genetic markers through geographic spaces.

In the final section, C. Parmesan treats "Coping with Modern Times? Insect Movement and Climate Change" by first summarizing how climate has shifted and then documenting how the distributions of various North American and European butterflies have seemingly shifted in response to these changes. The final chapter by J. Hill et al. on "Analysing and Modelling Range Changes in UK Butterflies" bolsters the idea that the ranges of certain insects are noticeably expanding because of rising temperatures.

I hope this quick sweep through the wide range of topics in this new book whets the appetites of all insect biologists. In my opinion, this book is required reading and should be in the library of any serious entomologist or biologist who has an inclination toward the emerging field of aerobiology, into which a large portion of the material is destined to be subsumed.

James R. Miller
Professor of Insect Physiology, Behavior, and Chemical Ecology
203 Center for Integrated Plant Systems
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824
e-mail: miller20@msu.edu
American Entomologist
Vol. 49, No.1, Spring 2003