Strength in Diversity

In theory, Integrated Pest Management is the science and art of combining tactics into a strategy that will keep insect damage under economic thresholds. In practice, pesticides are, on a financial basis, the main tactics employed and this situation is unsustainable. Although deliberate use or manipulation of insect behavior is tactic that is seldom employed in IPM practice, recent advances in both science and technology should improve that situation in direct and indirect ways. The availability of new technologies, such as genetically modified cultivated plants, may directly effect changes in insect behavior of pests (and their natural enemies) such that the damage they would cause is under control. Indirect approaches concerns both pests and natural enemies. Knowledge of insect behavior per se and of the behavior of pests in relation to their nearby habitats can be used to achieve success in IPM programs. Transgenic natural enemies with improved fitness should be better adapted to perform in otherwise hostile agricultural environments. The future of IPM relies a blend of knowledge and technologies of which behavioral ecology plays a central role. file:///D/content/3_2469.htm[29/10/2018 12:13:43 PM]