General Concepts in Integrated Pest and Disease Management

This, the first volume of the 'Integrated Management of Plant Pests and Diseases' book series, presents general concepts on integrated pest and disease management. Section one includes chapters on infection models, resurgence and replacement, plant disease epidemiology and effects of climate change in tropical environments. The second section includes remote sensing and information technology. Finally, the third section covers molecular aspects of the subject.

Dr Aurelio Ciancio is a research scientist at the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (former 'Istituto di Nematologia Agraria'), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy, since July 1984, and leader of a research line within the Agro-food CNR Committee and Department. He was President of ONTA (Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America) for the years 2005-2006, and is Secretary of the Società Italiana di Nematologia, and a member of several international scientific societies. Currently he is Vice President of the IFNC, International Federation of Nematological Societies, in charge of the Fifth International Congress of Nematology (Brisbane, Australia, July 2008).

Dr Ciancio's research activities concern fundamental and applied aspects of biological control of plant parasitic nematodes, parasitology of invertebrates, soil microbiology and molecular biology, microbial modeling and detection of soil microorganisms. He has authored more than 100 national and international publications, he coordinated one EU-INCO project and participated in three other EU funded projects.

He peer reviewed manuscripts for several scientific journals, including Biocontrol Science and Technology, the Canadian Journal of Zoology and the European Journal of Protistology. He also reviewed projects for NERC (Natural Environment Research Council, UK) and USDA. His research is actually funded through the EU, national and regional projects, aiming at the development of industrial products (natural and microbial nematocides) based on soil microorganisms.

Professor K.G. Mukerji published 20 international books/volumes on various aspects of applied mycology, plant pathology and microbial ecology during 1980- 2005 with publishing houses such as Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, Marcel and Dekker, CRC Press Inc. and Springer Verlag. In addition 20 other books/volumes were published by reputed Indian publishers.

Professor Mukerji has published over 600 research papers and he is on the editorial board of several national and international journals dealing with botany, mycology, plant pathology and biotechnology. More than 60 students received a PhD degree under his supervision. He is a member of several societies and associations concerning mycology, plant pathology and microbial ecology. Professor Mukerji is a distinguished mycologist and microbial ecologist and well reputed for his research contributions all over the world and a popular editor/writer for applied mycology, microbial ecology and plant pathology books. His books are used as reference books in the field all over the world.