Excerpts from the new ACE Study Guide

We're pretty excited about the new book, IPM for the Urban Professional: A Study Guide for the Associate Certified Entomologist.  I mentioned in a recent post that the book had gone to the printer. They are currently printing the cover and then will bind the pages together. We're expecting to get our copies into the ESA offices by the first week of October, 2015.

As we were reviewing the proofs I thought it may be good to highlight a couple of sections of the book to help people understand just what it is they would be buying. The tone of the book is what I really love. It is written in a conversational tone designed to appeal to a wide variety of learners.

In the book you'll find text that covers a wide variety of topics, including insect biology, behavior, control, IPM, chemical classifications, etc. Excerpted below you will find a few short text samples and screen shots of pages from the new guide (all text and images copyrighted to the Entomological Society of America, 2015, not to be used or reproduced without expressed written permission).

(from page 37)

"Integrated Pest Management is sometimes defined as the use of two or more control tactics. Based on this idea, some may think that using two or more pesticides qualifies as IPM. However, IPM is of course much more than that. In addition to proper pest identification, knowledge of pest biology, monitoring, and action thresholds, IPM relies on integratings tactics from the following methods:
1) Quarantine and exclusion to prevent pests from beginning an infestation.
2) Making the environment less suitable for pests through improved sanitation and/or changes in building design or construction.
3) The use of cultural control methods to ensure that habitats (especially outdoors) are less susceptible or attractive to pests.
4) Physical controls involving electricity, heat, cold, humidity, light, or sound ..."

(from pages 96-97)
"One of the prominent features of the insect head is the mouth. Along with the number and arrangement of eyes, the form of the antennae, and the shape and texture of the head, the ability to recognize different types of insect mouthparts can help to identify them.

Insects have four basic kinds of mouthparts:
1) chewing, 2) piercing-sucking, 3) sponging, and 4) siphoning. These are not the only types–there are actually several more classes of mouthparts. In fact, some insects have no functional mouthparts at all as adults (as you might guess, they don't live very long). However, these are the major types that are found in most structural insect pests."

(from page 113)

"One useful way of identifying ant species is to look at the thorax. In some ant species, the thorax is smooth and hairless, while others have ornamentation or setae (hairs). Some species bear spines in different numbers and configurations. And some ant species have a thorax that is smooth and round when viewed from the side, while others look uneven with distinctive shapes.

The gaster can also be used to identify ants. For example, most individuals in the subfamily Formicinae have an acidopor, a circular cone-like anal orifice at the tip of the gaster that is surrounded by a ring of hairs. However, most members of the subfamily Dolichoderinae have a slit-shpaed orifice with no ring of fairs. None of the ants in either of these two subfamilies have stingers on their gasters, but ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae do (see following section on Ant Classification)."

Read more on these and hundreds of other topics in the new study guide for the Associate Certified Entomologist program. It is on sale now at a discounted price until the end of 2015. Click here to reserve your copy.