Agricultural Acarology

Acarines are prominent pests of field crops, granaries, warehouse and animals (arthropods, birds) causing heavy financial losses. House dust acarines are notorious agents of allergic reactions in human beings and other mammals. Acarines because of their small size and cryptic habitat are difficult to detect and hence most of the time infestations are overlooked. Once established in a new area, certain biological characteristics like high fecundity, various modes of reproduction, short life cycles, a myriad of dispersal techniques and adaptability to diverse ecological conditions allow rapid escalation to pest status. On the other hand, acarines are among the major resources for biological control of various classes of pests including insects, nematodes and weeds. These widely distributed microscopic animal ranging from free living to parasitic forms and terrestrial to aquatic forms require specialized techniques for handling. The literature regarding their biodiversity, collection, rearing, biology etc. are scattered and most of the time unavailable to scientists interested to work on them. Hence, a comprehensive book on agricultural acarology is prepared which covers all aspects of acarine biodiversity, acarological techinques and their role as bio-control agent in an abridged form. The book is divided into three sections-’Acarine biodiversity’, Acarological techniques’ and ‘Acarines as biocontrol agents’. Acarine biodiversity contains six chapters, one each on plant, stored, soil, house dust, parasitic and water mites. In second section, details on techniques of collection and extraction, preparation and mounting, labelling and housing the collection, culturing, counting and bioassay are given in individual chapters. Information related to predatory potential of acarines against insects, nematodes and weeds is included in third section in three chapters. The book has been liberally furnished with illustrations for better understanding. An extensive list of references and glossary are also provided at the ende of the book.