Plant galls (Naturalists' Handbooks 17)

by Margaret Redfern & R.R. Askew with colour plates by M.L. Askew and R.R. Askew

Most of us have noticed galls as bizarre and often colourful distortions of plant growth, and wondered what goes on inside them. The drama enacted within a single gall may involve many species of insects and mites. Their interrelationships are intricate and their identification has been challenging. The communities of insects and mites associated with galls of certain plants, when unravelled by specialists, have proved to be of great ecological interest. This book will make galls accessible to a wider audience. It introduces the wonderfully complex communities associated with galls, and provides keys for identification of the gall former, and many other occupants, including predators and parasites. To make this task manageable the authors have concentrated on galls associated with selected plant species, and have presented a food web to illustrate the relationships among the animals associated with each type of gall. Much remains to be discovered about these and other galls and their inhabitants. For the first time, this book brings that exploration within the scope on interested naturalists and students.

Galls are often abundant and readily available systems for the study of ecology. Investigations undertaken at home or in schools and universities may help to advance our knowledge of these microcosms, and of the ecological interactions that they illustrate so compactly.

Contents

Introduction

The gall makers

Communities and interactions

Identification: Key I Galls caused by non-arthropods

Galls caused by arthropods (insects and mites): Key II Acer pseudoplatanus, sycamore; Key III Arctium species, burdocks; Key IV Betula species, birches; Key V Carduus species, plumeless thistles; Key VI Centaurea species, knapweeds; Key VII Cirsium species, plumed thistles; Key VIII Picea species, spruces; Key IX Populus species, poplars and aspen; Key X Quercus species, oaks; Key XI Rosa species, roses; Key XII Salis speices, willows and sallows; Key XII Taxus baccata, yew; Key XIV Full grown larvae of parasitoids and predators of selected gall formers.

Food webs based on selected gall formers

Some useful addresses; References and further reading.

Readership level

sixth-form, undergraduate, postgraduate, field centre, ecological consultant, wildlife trust, conservation volunteer

Keywords

galls, invertebrates, plants, insects, microclimate, ecology, fieldwork, entomology, parasite, parasitoid