Forest Insect Population Dynamics, Outbreaks, and Global Warming Effects

This new approach to insect modeling discusses population dynamics' regularities, control theory, theory of transitions, and describes methods of population dynamics and outbreaks modeling for forest phyllophagous insects and their effects on global climate change. Research in insect population dynamics is important for more reasons than just protecting forest communities. Insect populations are among the main ecological units included in the analysis of stability of ecological systems. Moreover, it is convenient to test new methods of analyzing population and community stability on the insect-related data, as by now ecologists and entomologists have accumulated large amounts of such data. In this book, the authors analyze population dynamics of quite a narrow group of insects forest defoliators. It is hoped that the methods proposed herein for the analysis of population dynamics of these species may be useful and effective for analyzing population dynamics of other animal species and their effects and role in global warming. What can insects tell us about our environment and our ever-changing climate? It is through studies like this one that these important answers can be obtained, along with data on the insects and their behaviors themselves. The authors present new theories on modeling and data accumulation, using cutting-edge processes never before published for such a wide audience. This volume presents the state-of-the-art in the science, and it is an essential piece of any entomologist's and forest engineer's library. This valuable new volume: Discusses the modeling of forest insect population dynamics by using autoregressive models and new method of describing and modeling forest insect population dynamics, based on the presentation of critical events in the population as first- and second-order phase transitions * Introduces new approaches for description of forest insect population dynamics * Includes methods for the analysis of forest insects population dynamics that may be useful and effective for analyzing population dynamics of other animal species * Is a must-have for forest entomologists, forest protection engineers, zoologists, and students in forestry and zoology