| dc.description.abstract | The article discusses the role and significance of pests in food products, with special attention to granary
pests. There is a preliminary discussion of the damage caused by pests belonging to diffedent animal groups,
citing examples of the extent of this damage in different countries. The author next, on the basis of her own
studies and the scientific literature, analyses the adaptation of the pests to life in the environment of
granaries and food stores and distinguishes morphological, biological, and ecological adaptations. Here are given
examples of the specific structure of the mouth organs in selected representatives of insects and mites, and of
their facilities for distribution. The metabolism of insects living on dry food is also discussed here, and in
connection with this, the organs serving for the maximal use of moisture, both atmospheric and contained in the
food. This is followed by an analysis, from many examples, of the thermo-humid relationships influencing the
growth and survival of the insects, with particular consideration of the part played by „grain-heating foci”.
Finally there is a discussion of some problems connected wih the origin and migration of many pest species, and,
the ecological conditions of the specific environment of stores and granaries. | en_EN |
