On this page the following entries were made in the “Entomology” category. Check out other categories in our Archives.
Bug Blog Archives for “Entomology”
Programmed by Nature
[…] none pose any real threat to us, our animals, or the plants we are treating.
We are often asked by people new to biological pest control if the good bugs we prescribe can become pests themselves. It stands to reason since risk perception is a notoriously weird science: many people tend to fear things they shouldn’t be terribly concerned with — shark attacks, for example, which strike roughly 1 in 3.9-million people — whereas hordes of folks seemingly ignore more serious threats like motor vehicle accidents which kill 1 in 88 people. Risk perception accounts for many people staying out of the water at the beach, but it doesn’t seem to stem the tide of those hitting the highway.
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The Entomology and IPM Success Relationship
Biological pest control, when one first sees it, must seem terribly complex. What with all those fresh terms filling our minds and having to grasp novel ideas like quelling our expectations of instakill-satisfaction, and focusing our biological pest controls strategies such as better identifying our pests and acting proactively. These complexities, however, are common to pest control as a whole for the most part so the biological part of the equation doesn’t really add a new layer. Still, using living organisms to control other living organisms worries many. They think to themselves that they must be an entomologist or bug scientist to really succeed at biocontrol. It’s just not so.
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Identifying Greenhouse and Garden Pests
It’s awfully important to know what critters you have in your greenhouse or garden. Critically important, in fact, if you want to use something other than a nasty, broad-spectrum pesticide to control them. But this is easier said than done. Fortunately getting super-specific isn’t always necessary — many good bugs handle a range of pests making general identification acceptable most of the time — and where it is, resources are in place and available to help you. Here’s a quick run-down of these resources.
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Can Pests Become Resistant to Natural Enemies?
Arthropod Pest and Natural Enemy Interactions: Can Pests Become Resistant to Natural Enemies?
Biological control is a well-known pest management strategy available to greenhouse managers to “manage” or “regulate” arthropod (insect and mite) pests. As opposed to discussing the basic concepts of biological control and why it is important to implement some type of biological control, this article will focus on the arthropod pest-natural enemy interactions and characteristics of arthropod pests.
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