This volume offers extensive information on insect life in dying and dead wood. Written and reviewed by leading experts from around the world, the twenty-five chapters included here provide the most global coverage possible and specifically address less-studied taxa and topics. An overarching goal of this work is to unite literature that has become fragmented along taxonomic and geographic lines. A particular effort was made to recognize the dominant roles that social insects (e.g., termites, ants and passalid beetles) play in saproxylic assemblages in many parts of the world without overlooking the non-social members of these communities.

An introduction to the diversity, ecology and conservation of saproxylic insects.- General overview of saproxylic Coleoptera.- Ecology and conservation of Passalidae.- Diversity and ecology of stag beetles (Lucanidae).- Saproxylic Diptera.- Ecology, diversity and conservation of saproxylic hymenopteran parasitoids.- Saproxylic bees and wasps.- Ants: Ecology and impacts in dead wood.- Diversity and ecology of saproxylic Hemiptera.- Diversity of saproxylic Lepidoptera.- Wood-feeding termites.- Insect-fungus interactions in dead wood systems.- Nutrient dynamics in decomposing dead wood in the context of wood eater requirements: The ecological stoichiometry of saproxylophagous insects.- Biotic interactions between saproxylic insect species.- Dispersal of saproxylic insects.- Seasonality and stratification: Neotropical saproxylic beetles respond to a heat and moisture continuum with conservatism and plasticity.- Importance of primary forests for the conservation of saproxylic insects.- The importance of dead-wood amount for saproxylic insects and how it interacts with dead-wood diversity and other habitat factors.- Conservation of saproxylic insect diversity under variable retention harvesting.- Saproxylic insects and fire.- Saproxylic insects in tree hollows.- It's the end of the wood as we know it: Insects in veteris (highly-decomposed) wood.- Utilization of non-native wood by saproxylic insects.- The role of urban environments for saproxylic insects.- Molecular tools for assessing saproxylic insect diversity.