Book excerpt: "This book seeks to fulfil the need for a concise and inexpensive text on population ecology. It presents general principles derived from demographic studies of insects in various parts, of the world, and shows how those principles bear upon the practice of ecology both in research and in the management of biological resources. The book is aimed at a wide audience including students and teachers of ecology, and economic entomologists. After reviewing the develpment of ecological thought since Darwin, the authors discuss the views advanced by modern theorists to explain how animal numbers are determined, and describe a comprehensive and functional way of envisaging the dynamics of insect populations, suited to the problems confronting most ecologists today and to modern methods of work. The authors show how their generalised model can serve for the derivation of explanatory synthesis of population dynamics in a number of cases ranging from investigations pursued under laboratory conditions to large-scale field studies. Recognised approaches to the study of numerical determination in insect populations are presented synoptically according to the characteristics of the information sought. In addition, the authors present a comprehensive discussion of pest control, in which they test the practical efficacy of their views and analyse the relation of demographic ecology to the management of pests. The book is concluded by outlining the ecological research needed to advance our understanding of insect behavior." BOOK JACKET.