Essential Entomology - Second Edition

Aug 7, 2026

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Essential Entomology (Second Edition) introduces the major biological concepts and ecological roles of insects and other arthropods. It frames insects as dominant inhabitants of land and freshwater ecosystems, linking their diversity to key processes such as food-web trophic levels, energy transfer, and plant–insect symbioses like pollination. The discussion highlights how insects underpin terrestrial productivity and support higher animals through widespread insect-based diets, while emphasizing the scale of uncertainty in estimating global species richness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages337

Reading Time14 h 9 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Origins and dominance of insects

Trophic levels and food-web energy transfer

Insects and pollination symbiosis

Insects in diets of higher animals

ESSENTIAL ENTOMOLOGY ESSENTIAL ENTOMOLOGY SECOND EDITION George C. McGavin Honorary Research Associate of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Honorary Principal Research Fellow, Imperial College Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, Oxford University Museum of Natural History Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Text © George C. McGavin and Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou 2022 Illustrations © Richard Lewington 2001 except those listed on page xi The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2001 Second Edition published in 2022 Impression: 1 Reprinted 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921538 ISBN 978–0–19–284311–1 (hbk.) ISBN 978–0–19–284312–8 (pbk.) DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192843111.001.0001 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Links to third-party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third-party website referenced in this work. phyla plural of phylum, the major groupings of the animal kingdom, composed of superclasses and classes, that is, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Chordata, etc. Trophic level the levels of food or energy transfer in food chains/webs. Food producers or autotrophs form the ﬁrst level, herbivores form the second level, primary carnivores the third level. Other carnivores form the fourth and ﬁfth levels. Preface Life began in the seas, and salt water is still home to most ofthe earth’s phyla. On land, however, two groups dominate: the plants and the insects. The word insect comes from the Latin, insectus, the past participle of insecare, to cut or incise, and refers to the major divisions of an insect’s body. Insects have been around for well over 400 million years. They were the first animals on land and the first to get into the air. They are the most speciesrich and abundant group of multicellular animals the Earth has ever seen. More than half of all described species and about 75% of all animals are insects. But exactly how many species share the planet Earth with us? The truth is: we don’t have the foggiest idea. Some early guesses of 30 million or even 100 million have been replaced in the last decade with more realistic estimates of somewhere between 5 and 10 million species. Despite this massive uncertainty, one thing is indisputable: the majority of Earth’s inhabitants are insects. In terrestrial ecosystems, green plants are the primary producers, trapping the sun’s energy and using it to convert carbon dioxide to organic matter. Without photosynthesis the planet would be a very different place. Autotrophs like plants form the base of terrestrial and freshwater food chains, but every trophic level above is dominated by insects. For example, it may come

FAQs

Why are insects considered dominant in terrestrial ecosystems?

Insects are the most species-rich and abundant multicellular animals on Earth, and they dominate multiple trophic levels above plants.

How do insects relate to trophic levels and food chains?

Autotrophs form the first trophic level, while herbivores occupy the next levels and higher carnivore levels are also largely dominated by insects in many ecosystems.

What role do insects play in pollination and plant survival?

Insects pollinate the majority of flowering plant species, and this long-lasting plant–insect symbiosis supports the continued survival and diversity of angiosperms.

Aug 7, 2026

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