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Pesticides and Pest Control. By Brian Kaestner with thanks to Miller and Clements. What is a pesticide?. What are the different types of pesticides?. Broad-spectrum agents. Narrow-spectrum agents. Target species. Nontarget species.
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Pesticides and Pest Control By Brian Kaestner with thanks to Miller and Clements
What is a pesticide? What are the different types of pesticides? • Broad-spectrum agents • Narrow-spectrum agents • Target species • Nontarget species
In your groups come up with 3 characteristics of a ideal pesticide.
Characteristics of an Ideal Pesticide? • Kill only target pests • Harm no other species • Break down quickly • Not cause genetic resistance • Be more cost-effective than doing nothing
The Case for Pesticides • Save human lives • Increase supplies and lower cost of food • Work better and faster than alternatives • Health risks may be insignificant compared to benefits • Newer pesticides are becoming safer • New pesticides are used at lower rates
The Case Against Pesticides • Genetic resistance • Can kill nontarget/natural control species • Can cause an increase in other pest species • pesticide treadmill • Pesticides do not stay • Bioaccumulation/biomagnification • Potential human health threats
Pesticide Regulation in the United States ? • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) 1947 • Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) • 1996
What is IPM ? • Ecological system approach • Reduce pest populations to economic threshold • Field monitoring of pest populations • Use of biological agents • Chemical pesticides are last resort
Effects of IPM Original pest population Introduction biological control Economic threshold Pest density Equilibrium position Equilibrium position Reduced pest population Time