Biological Control

ISBN-13: 9781461565307 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 511 str.

C. B. Huffaker; C. Huffaker

Opis

The explosive increase in the world's human population, with conse- quent need to feed an ever-increasing number of hungry mouths, and the largely resultant disturbances and pollution of the environment in which man must live and produce the things he needs, are forcing him to search for means of solving the first problem without intensifying the latter. Food production requires adequate assurance against the ravages of insects. In the last three decades short-sighted, unilateral and almost exclusive employment of synthesized chemicals for insect pest control has posed an enormous and as yet unfathomed contribution to the degradation of our environment, while our insect pest problems seem greater than ever. Properly viewed, pest control is basically a question of applied ecology, yet its practice has long been conducted with little regard to real necessity for control, and in some cases, with little regard to various detrimental side-effects or long-term advantage with respect, even, to the specific crop itself. This book deals fundamentally with these questions. The development of pesticide resistance in many of the target species, against which the pesticides are directed, has occasioned an ever-increasing load of applications and complexes of different kinds of highly toxic materials. This has been made even more "necessary" as the destruction of natural enemies has resulted, as a side effect, in the rise to pest status of many species that were formerly innocuous. The application of broad-spec- trum pesticides thus has many serious and self-defeating features.

Spis treści

1. The Pesticide Syndrome—Diagnosis and Suggested Prophylaxis.- 2. The Natural Enemy Component in Natural Control and the Theory of Biological Control.- 3. The Adaptability of Introduced Biological Control Agents.- 4. The Use of Models and Life Tables in Assessing the Role of Natural Enemies.- 5. Experimental Techniques for Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Natural Enemies.- 6. The Biological Control of Weeds by Introduced Natural Enemies.- 7. Biological Control of Coccids by Introduced Natural Enemies.- 8. Control of Pests in Glasshouse Culture by the Introduction of Natural Enemies.- 9. The Biological Control of the Winter Moth in Eastern Canada by Introduced Parasites.- 10. Biological Control of Rhodesgrass Scale by Airplane Releases of an Introduced Parasite of Limited Dispersing Ability.- 11. The Importance of Naturally-Occurring Biological Control in the Western United States.- 12. Naturally-Occurring Biological Control in the Eastern United States, with Particular Reference to Tobacco Insects.- 13. Cases of Naturally-Occurring Biological Control in Canada.- 14. Systems Analysis and Pest Management.- 15. Microbial Control as a Tool in Integrated Control Programs.- 16. Management of Pest Populations by Manipulating Densities of Both Hosts and Parasites Through Periodic Releases.- 17. The Developing Program of Integrated Control of Cotton Pests in California.- 18. The Developing Programs of Integrated Control of Pests of Apples in Washington and Peaches in California.- 19. Development of Integrated Control Programs for Pests of Tropical Perennial Crops in Malaysia.- 20. Development of Integrated Control Programs for Crop Pests in Israel.- Author Index.