nature and ecology

This is a solid text on the structure and physiology of insects. It has been used in two of my graduate level entomology classes, and none of the instructors have said "I wish Chapman had done ... differently".

Chapman's book is a comprehensive and well-written entomology text. Not only does he cover all the basic topics in entomology, he does so in depth. This text may be too detailed and overwhelming for begining entomology students but is great for more advanced students. The one problem I have with this book is that Chapman often uses jargon without defining or explaining it, leaving the reader to look it up or remain confused.

The following comments were written by graduate and undergraduate members of an advanced class in insect physiology taught Spring Semester 2000.

Chapman's book is interesting and covers a variety of topics. It is interesting for learning about how much insects differ between orders. Chapman gives many examples of different phenomena in insects. As a student, though, all the examples and different phenomena make studying from the book difficult and overwhelming. It is useful as a reference, a book to read to clarify topics discussed in lecture. But it is very specific with the examples.

Chapman's textbook is comprehensive. It covers all aspects of insect physiology. It has full and updated literature citations for each chapter, which is very helpful for further reading. The language is simple and precise. But it is a little bit conservative and has slight coverage of some hot topics. The coverage favors insect structure and morphology.

For me as a student the Chapman text was very helpful, because it is clearly structured and it covers nearly all important fields of insect physiology and structure. The new edition is very up-to-date and gives good examples from recent investigations. It is a bit too focused on research conducted in the US, but this probably reflects the fact that most of the important research is conducted there. The illustrations are very clear and helpful.

I used this textbook in an advanced insect physiology class. To be perfectly honest, this book was a minor part of the class for me. I skimmed through it, used it for references, and as a sort of entomology handbook. From my perspective, it was a very complete source of information. At times it was a bit heavy on detail, but the information I needed was all there and clearly stated.

This book is not one that is useful to read from front to back. It is an excellent reference book that should be owned by all entomologists. Three or more specific examples are given for each topic instead of a generic example for all insects. This is useful because it gives you the range of known physiology of insects that can be compared to the reader's "insect of choice."

Chapman gives all the details an entomologist needs to know about insects. It may be a bit confusing due to the vast number of insects, but it is a good resource to own and keep. Chapman is very thorough.

One of the strengths of Chapman's new edition of Insects, Structure and Function is the wealth of examples. Every section of the book has examples from just about all of the orders of insects, although grasshoppers seem to rule disproportionately. A weakness with all of these wonderful examples is the cumbersome way Chapman places a list of them at the beginning of a section. He intends them to be as authoritative fleet of representatives who give some scale and scope to the subject being presented. They unfortunately end up as a heavy flotilla that diverts the reader's attention from the information sought. There are places in the book where subjects that are usually treated together or that work as a whole system are poorly integrated. Digestion and nutrition are so separately treated (they are in different chapters) that the reader finds herself having to cross reference from section to section to make cogent sense of what nutrients have to do with digestion. Strangely, when Chapman presents the great variety of insect form and function one has a sense of cacophony. Instead of giving us a unity, or even the illusion of unity, of how form and function interact we are presented with vignettes of research. But these vignettes do not provide us with the pretty and easy to get to views that we find on the Internet. We find ourselves lost somewhere in a tome that is more intent on directing our attention to variation than to presenting us with direct descriptions. But then again, how do you argue with the only author in English who has been brave enough to try to make a synthetic analysis of the most diverse group of animals on earth?