Mary Louise Flint

The Future of Integrated Pest Management

On first impression it would seem that a rapid and widescale implementation of integrated pest management is an inevitable eventuality. This is a logical assumption when we realize that in comparison to the prevailing chemical control strategy, IPM is more effective, less costly, and less hazardous to man and the environment. Logic tells us that society should be rushing to adopt this better pest management strategy, but in fact it is not. Indeed, despite the success of a variety of programs globally and the enthusiastic endorsement of IPM by a number of the world’s most respected pest control researchers and practitioners, the strategy’s development and implementation have moved at a snail’s pace. California, for example, where much of the pioneering effort in IPM has occurred, the strategy is only utilized on about 20% of the cotton acreage, in a fraction of the deciduous fruit and citrus orchards, in only a handful of the communities and mosquito abatement districts, and not at all on the bulk of the agricultural acreage and in other areas or resource production.

The Philosophy of Integrated Pest Management

While the ability of modern pesticides to annihilate pests locally is undeniable, the prevailing dependence on these pest control chemicals has repeatedly led to crisis situations (including pest resurgence, secondary pest outbreak, resistance, environmental contamination, and hazards to human health) that prove far worse than the original pest problem. In the last decade many have recognized the need for a new management approach that would minimize such negative side effects of pest control actions yet give effective, economical control of pest organisms. The new control strategy that has subsequently developed is Integrated Pest Management.

A History of Pest Control

The organisms that disturbed prehistoric man’s nomadic hunting-gathering life-style must have been few. As humans of this period grew no crops and had no permanent homes and few possessions, we can imagine that their pest problems would have been limited to those organisms, such as lice, fleas, flies, and mosquitoes, that caused people physical discomfort. Prehistoric control of these pests—picking, slapping, and squashing— could hardly be called a science.

What is a Pest

We share this planet with the million or more other species of organisms that inhabit the biosphere. This mass of organisms goes on reproducing; dying; taking up space; taking in water, air, and essential nutrients; depositing waste materials; and, most important, maintaining a delicate hierarchical balance of species, constantly eating one another. It goes on so quietly and unobtrusively that human beings are rarely conscious of this vast exchange taking place before their very eyes and beneath their very feet.

Man, Pests, and the Evolution of IPM

The definition of “pest” is totally human-oriented. Organisms designated pests compete with people for food, fiber, and shelter; transmit pathogens; feed on people; or otherwise threaten human health, comfort, or welfare. It could be said that, previous to the appearance of humans, there were no pests—just millions of different organisms struggling for survival; the arrival of humans and the continuing development of the human life-style have provided the sole basis for labeling an ever-increasing number of these surviving organisms “pests.”

The Cost of Pest Control

Pest control and other resource management actions are ecosystem manipulations designed to maintain resource quality, preserve or improve human health and comfort, or enhance the production of food and fiber. Their employment requires a workforce, materials, energy, and the modification of the environment. Their implementation represents a conscious decision to allocate materials, energy, and people to the production of certain benefits and to forego other possible priorities. As such, these actions have economic, social, and environmental ramifications for all of society. People involved in the design and implementation of resource management programs must necessarily concern themselves with the direct (or private) short-term economic benefits of these programs; but even so, these persons need to be aware of the far-reaching effects of their actions on the general public.

The Integrated Pest Management Specialist

One reason conventional chemical control methods (i.e., pesticide applications according to a predetermined calendar schedule or without use of monitoring and regular control action criteria) have been so popular and are often only reluctantly abandoned by growers, government personnel, homeowners, and others having pest problems is the relative ease with which they can be used. Just about all that is required for their use is acquaintance with the application equipment and safety precautions and the ability to read a label or a calendar.

Case Histories in Integrated Pest Management

In the previous pages a wide variety of IPM cases have been discussed. Those perhaps represent the majority of programs in the USA. In this chapter, a few case histories of IPM implementation are described in greater detail.

Human-Managed Environments as Systems within the Biosphere

A sound ecological understanding of pest species, of the managed environment, and of the environmental effects of pest management procedures is a prerequisite to the instigation of a successful integrated pest management program. Pest problems do not arise in a vacuum; they arise because a combination of factors in the environment favors the growth of pest populations. For instance, availability of food and water, favorable weather, shelter, and a shortage of the organisms that normally feed on the pest species (predators) may provide conditions conducive to a pest outbreak. Likewise, actions taken to control pests have effects on the surrounding environment beyond killing the target pest. This chapter briefly describes the major ecological principles most necessary to gain an insight into the causes of pest problems, to understand integrated pest management literature, and to manage pests in an ecologically sound manner. For a more detailed discussion of these principles, the reader is urged to consult the many fine ecology textbooks available.