Introduction: Concept of forest entomology
Forest entomology deals with the study of forest insects. It deals with the study of both the beneficial and harmful effects. Forest entomology is applied ecology with its scientific roots in silviculture and population ecology of insects. The main focus in forest entomology is on the insect pest of the forest and how damage can be prevented and controlled. Forest insects simply mean an insect which sustains its life in forest, in close association, with plants and animals. No other animals sustain such intimate and complex relations. There are about 8,00,000 species of insects known today and several thousand new ones are described each year. Entomologist must understand forest, the life history and requirements of the individual tree species, their reaction to the habitat and to one another, and the characteristics that make some forest types either susceptible or resistant to insect injuries.
The insects constitute a separate class INSECTA among orthopods. Insects are in the phylum Arthropoda which includes all animals with exoskeletons and segmented bodies. Their bodies are typically divided into three parts:
1.Head
2.Thorax
3.Abdomen
The most common insect order that are fount on forest are:
• Coleoptera ➡ Beetles
• Diptera ➡ Flies
• Hymenoptera ➡ Ants, Bees, Wasps
• Lepidoptera ➡ Moths and Butterflies
• Orthoptera ➡ Grasshoppers, Crickets
• Phasmida ➡ Walking sticks
• Isoptera ➡ Termites
• Hemiptera ➡ Cicadas, Leafhoppers, Aphids
General harmful characteristics of insects:
1.Injury to growing plants: Insects feed all types of growing crops and all other valuable plants in different ways.
2.Injury by chewing Insects: Some insects chew leaves and fruits and damage the plant.
3.Injury by sucking insect: sucking insects results in minute spotting of white, brown or red on leaves, fruits, or twigs.
4.Injury by Internal feeder: Entry into the tissue of the plants by thrushing the eggs inside by the sharp oviposition of the female insects or uses the interance hole is very minute. Internal feeder are wood borer, worms, weevils, etc.
5.Injury by subterranean Insects: These insects are internal feeders of plants, feed on roots and stem of plants that lie below the surface of the ground. This group includes chewers, sap suckers, root borers, and gall insects.
6.Some insects lay egg inside the fruit which result damage of fruit.
7.The cutworms cut the plants from the ground level or damage the roots, branches, flowers, and buds by cutworms.
8.Damage pine seedlings by Anomola rufiventris cockchafer.
9.Damage conifers and Eucalyptus seedlings by cockchafers. (mimela mundissima)
10.Damage to leaves by leaf defoliator, root of plants by root borer, stem and cambium by stem borer.
11.Tunnel formation in bamboo e.g. bamboo borer.
12.Making mounds on or near trees, Bringing fungus of rust on trees.
Importance of entomology in forestry:
1.Entomology helps in study of beneficial as well as harmful insects so that we can know which of them are beneficial and which one are harmful.
2.Some insects are crucial part of ecosystem, where they perform many important functions.
3.Some insects aerate the soil, helps in pollination and some of them feed harmful insects too.
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