1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2009
Summary
Insect pest management is an apparently complex subject which is often too difficult to comprehend fully. Even separate components of the subject present diverse and complicated interactions … [and] … unless the system is formalized in some way, it is very difficult to maintain a balanced and holistic perspective. This can lead to biases in emphasis, a narrowing of approach and adopted options, poor decision making and communication.
d. dent (2000, p. 330)Identifying the problems
Integrated pest management (IPM) is today a common approach to dealing with insect pests of agriculture, although reliance on synthetic organic pesticides remains high. As an applied science, IPM has a structure that incorporates knowledge and information from several subdisciplines and technologies, a central one of which is insect ecology. At least, insect ecology is widely acknowledged to have such a role, and most of the entomological inputs into IPM are comprehensively covered in a range of textbooks (e.g. Dent, 1997, 2000; Kennedy & Sutton, 2000; Norton & Mumford, 1993; Pedigo, 1999; Pimentel, 1997; Ruberson, 1999; Speight et al., 1999), at least one of which is undergoing progressive development on the World Wide Web (Radcliffe & Hutchison, 2002). However, the actual relationship of insect ecology to IPM remains somewhat abstract for it has never really been specified in concrete terms. Even those ecological aspects that relate directly to IPM are not given good coverage in IPM texts.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Insect Pest Management and Ecological Research , pp. 1 - 12Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003