Insect Chemical Ecology provides a comprehensive view of how natural selection acts upon interacting organisms and how particular physical and biological properties of chemical compounds act as constraints upon which natural selection may act. Individual chapters raise specific questions as to the nature of these interactions.The first part contains reviews on antagonistic and mutualistic chemical interactions, the `raw materials' of chemical evolution, the economics of offensive and defensive chemicals, and neurobiology.The second part discusses particular problems such as the evolution of resistance, insect pollination, learning, pheromones, sequestration of semiochemicals, the role of microorganisms, sex attractants, the evolution of host races and biotypes, and the role of semiochemicals and the evolution of sociality of insects. The last chapter discusses the role of chemical-based pest management programs in an ecological and evolutionary framework.

Contributors. Preface. Part I: General considerations: Why an evolutionary perspective? B.D. Roitberg. Natural selection and the evolution of plant-insect interactions; M.D. Rausher. Biochemicals: engineering problems for natural selection; M. Berenbaum, D.S. Seigler. Costs and benefits of chemical information conveyance: proximate and ultimate factors; M. Dicke, Maurice Sabelis. A physiological perspective; M.B. Isman. Part II: Specific problems: Evolution of resistance to plant defensive chemicals in insects; M.A. Caprio, B.E. Tabashnik. The evolution of unpalatability and the cost of chemical defense in insects; M.D. Bowers. Behavioral plasticity and patterns of host use by insects; J. Jaenike, D.R. Papaj. Evolution of sex pheromones and the role of asymmetric tracking; P.L. Phelan. Semiochemicals and insect sociality; M.L. Winston. Evolutionary perspectives and insect pest control: an attractive blend for the deployment of semiochemicals in management programs; J.N. McNeil. Taxonomic index. Subject index.