The multitrophic level approach to ecology addresses the complexity of food webs much more realistically than the traditional focus on simple systems and interactions. Only in the last few decades have ecologists become interested in the nature of more complex systems including tritrophic interactions between plants, herbivores and natural enemies. Plants may directly influence the behaviour of their herbivores' natural enemies, ecological interactions between two species are often indirectly mediated by a third species, landscape structure directly affects local tritrophic interactions and below-ground food webs are vital to above-ground organisms. The relative importance of top-down effects (control by predators) and bottom-up effects (control by resources) must also be determined. These interactions are explored in this exciting volume by expert researchers from a variety of ecological fields. This book provides a much-needed synthesis of multitrophic level interactions and serves as a guide for future research for ecologists of all descriptions.

This book explores the complex interactions between plants, their herbivores and natural enemies.

About the Author
Teja Tscharntke is Professor of Agroecology at the University of Goettingen, Germany. His research focus is on plant-herbivore-enemy interactions including parasitism, predation and pollination, insect communities and food webs on a landscape scale and temperate-tropical comparisons. He is editor-in-chief of Basic and Applied Ecology and a member of the editorial board of Oecologia. Bradford A. Hawkins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. His research focus is on the biology and ecology of insect parasitoids, insect community ecology, food webs and energy-diversity theory. He is the author of Pattern and Process in Host-Parasitoid Interactions (Cambridge University Press, 1994), and editor of Parasitoid Community Ecology (1994, with William Sheenan) and Theoretical Approaches to Biological Control (Cambridge University Press, 1999, with Howard V. Cornell).

Reviews
"Each chapter is technical and well referenced, and makes good use of figures and tables to clarify points. An excellent reference book that also meets its goal as a guide for future research in trophic interactions." Northeastern Naturalist
"Well written and edited...a powerful guide for the next generation of food web studies, in both pure and applied ecology. This book is an interesting, updated review opening many questions about the role of complexity in food webs and I recommend its reading to both graduate students and researchers interested in the ecology and evolution of biotic interactions." Ecoscience



Book Information
ISBN 9780521084185
Author Teja Tscharntke
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 16mm