Natural Enemies

Dr. Sonia A.P. Santos holds a PhD in Biology / Entomology and she is a Researcher at Mountain Research Center, School of Agriculture of Braganca Polytechnic Institute of Braganca and she is an invited Assistant Professor at the Barreiro School of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Setubal, Portugal. She has coordinated 2 research projects and has participated in several research projects devoted to the study of crop protection and biological control in Mediterranean woody plants (i.e., olive, chestnut, almond trees and vineyards). She has published 28 peer-reviewed articles in ISI/SCOPUS, 19 papers in proceedings and 2 international book chapters. She has given 10 oral talks and authored more than 90 presentations at international and 40 at national conferences. She currently supervises 2 PhD students and successfully completed the supervision of 5 masters. Her main areas of research include development and validation of ecological and biodiversity indicators and development of strategies and habitat manipulation programs to promote functional biodiversity (natural enemies of pests) in agro-ecosystems. The community of natural enemies that inhabits agroecosystems is complex mainly due to multiple trophic interactions established among them and their target prey/hosts. Several factors can influence the efficiency of natural enemies as biological control agents, such as the occurrence of preferred food items, supplementary food resources, shelters, agricultural practices or landscapes. In this book, scientists present recent studies in regards to the identification, protection strategies and impacts of agricultural practices on important groups of natural enemies. This core focus includes specific studies on predatory species (e.g., mites, spiders, anthocorids, nabids, carabids, and coccinellids) as well as parasitoid species (hymenopterans). The different chapters present new approaches towards the conservation of natural enemies in agroecosystems, and discuss the effects of climate change and agricultural practices on biodiversity, life history and movement of natural enemies.Target Audience:Professors, researchers and students in the area of agricultural and biological sciences; Technicians in the area of agriculture; Farmers; People interested in biological control of pests