The Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Host–Parasitoid Interactions

Abstract This book examines in some depth our current understanding of the population dynamics of one kind of interaction—between insect parasitoids and their hosts. Parasitoids are amongst the most abundant of all animals, making up about 10% or more of metazoan species, and very few insect species escape their attack. These interactions were first modelled over 50 years ago, but for many years there was little, good empirical information on the important factors affecting host and parasitoid populations. The models were very simple and their predictions rather divorced from what we see in the field. Nowadays, much more data is available on many components of host-parasitoid systems, from field observations and from laboratory and field experiments, and this allows a much closer interaction between models and data. The result is a body of theory that makes direct contact with real systems in the field, and illustrates how ecological studies can now be advanced in a way that was not possible when theory and data-gathering were treated as rather separate exercises. These are stirring times for host-parasitoid workers who are on the verge of a detailed understanding of what underpins a whole area of population dynamics.