Introduction

Abstract

This book documents what we know about the nematodes that parasitise the crops of South Africa. It also provides information on the free-living nematodes that occur in the soil and inland waterbodies, those found on the sea shore and in estuaries around the coast, the nematodes that parasitise insects and terrestrial slugs and those that parasitise animals and humans. By way of introduction, Chapter 1 briefly describes and illustrates the distribution and wide diversity of habitats in South Africa. The corresponding diversity and distribution of agri- and horticultural crops that are produced in South Africa are shown with maps. The chapter concludes with a list of the commonly occurring and abundant plant-parasitic nematodes that feed and cause damage to crops.