Given the success of the first edition of
Insect Physiology Aspects of Environmentally Friendly Strategies for Crop Pests and Insect Vectors Control and the continuing advances in the field, we are pleased to announce Volume II.
Nowadays we are constantly being invited to increase our knowledge towards the control of insect population, mainly agricultural pests, and disease vectors. Insecticide resistance is a phenomenon where resistant insects do not die when faced with chemical compounds used as insecticides. Various factors are associated with insecticide resistance, including biological, genetic, and operational (amount of insecticides applied on determinate area) causes. Insecticides are extremely toxic to the environment and therefore, searching for environmentally friendly methods for population management of insect vectors and crop pests is one of the greatest scientific challenges we need to elucidate to preserve the Earth and make it a better place to live in.
This Research Topic focuses on the aspects of insect physiology such as olfaction, behavior, development, excretion, homeostasis, neurobiology, and reproduction involved in the control of insect vectors or crop pests’ populations and the disruption of parasite-vector interaction. Research describing molecular-based strategies for insect population control using approaches involving either genes, proteins, electrophysiological responses, or molecular docking is particularly relevant. Research aiming to characterize the physiological response to relevant volatiles or natural compounds obtained from plant secondary metabolites is also are also encouraged.
In the context of environmentally friendly interventions to control crop pests and invertebrate vectors, we welcome review papers and original research on the following themes:
• Advances in the understanding of insect responses to plant volatiles.
• Advances in the understanding of insect response to animal volatiles.
• Progress on pheromone discovery and trap development.
• Progress on insect repellents research.
• Role of insects’ olfactory proteins on the development of devices.
• Insights into insects’ olfactory proteins for the search for new bioactive molecules for population management strategies.
• Relevant applications of biotechnology and molecular biology for invertebrate pest or vector management
• Synthesis, discovery, screening, structure/activity, and biochemical mode of action of chemical defined natural compounds as pesticides.
• Secondary metabolites of plants acting as physiologically active compounds and their physiological and/or metabolic routes.
• Biochemical and molecular studies, including biosynthesis, isolation, structure elucidation, and chemical synthesis of novel compounds from plants.