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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
Add to your list…
Present a case for using
pesticides
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
Now come up with a list
against pesticides
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
Pest density
Introduction
biological control
Economic threshold
Equilibrium
position
Equilibrium position
Reduced pest population
Time