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  • Book
  • © 2014

Chasing the Red Queen

The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pests and Poisons

Authors:

  1. Andy Dyer

    1. University of South Carolina, Aiken, USA

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  • The first book to apply The Red Queen Hypothesis to agriculture.

  • Explains key concepts in biology and ecology, using the timely issue of food security as a case study.

  • Presents solutions to address the pressing problem of chemical dependence and resistance in agriculture.

Sections

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
    PDF

  2. Introducing the Red Queen

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      PDF

  3. Ignoring the Red Queen

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43
      PDF

  4. Trying to Beat the Red Queen

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81
      PDF

    3. King Cotton vs. the Red Queen

      • Andy Dyer
      Pages 95-105

  5. Playing the Red Queen

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133
      PDF

    3. Slowing the Race by Slowing the Attack

      • Andy Dyer
      Pages 143-158
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About this book

In the race to feed the world’s seven billion people, we are at a standstill. Over the past century, we have developed increasingly potent and sophisticated pesticides, yet in 2014, the average percentage of U.S. crops lost to agricultural pests was no less than in 1944. To use a metaphor the field of evolutionary biology borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, farmers must run ever faster to stay in the same place—i.e., produce the same yields. With Chasing the Red Queen, Andy Dyer offers the first book to apply the Red Queen Hypothesis to agriculture. Dyer examines one of the world’s most pressing problems as a biological case study. He presents key concepts, from Darwin’s principles of natural selection to genetic variation and adaptive phenotypes. Understanding the fundamentals of ecology and biology is the first step to “playing the Red Queen,” and escaping her unwinnable race. The book’s novel frame will help students, researchers, and policy-makers alike apply that knowledge to the critical task of achieving food security.
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Authors and Affiliations

  • University of South Carolina, Aiken, USA

    Andy Dyer

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