Insect Pest Management

EAN/UPC/ISBN Code 9780851986661


This book is a major textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in applied entomology or crop protection. It provides in-depth coverage of the principles, research methodologies and practice for each component of the subject. The first two chapters describe how insect populations and their pest status can be assessed. Chapters then follow covering the main methods of pest management, using chemicals, host-plant resistance and biological control. Chapter 7 covers cultural control, that is manipulation of the environment to render it unfavourable to the host, such as hermetic storage system for crops post-harvest and intercropping for crops in the field. Chapter 8 covers interference methods, such as semiochemicals, the sterile insect technique and genetic engineering. The final two chapters then consider issues such as quarantine, legislation, modelling and systems analysis, decision making, social issues, farming systems and research management. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the need for socio-economic evaluation of integrated pest management techniques, and detailed examples are drawn from both temperate and tropical regions. Most relate to crop protection, but some examples from medical and veterinary entomology are also included.