Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Grzegorz Buczkowski*
Purdue University, USA
Introduction
manoeuvring' the pests were the only tools
used to limit their impact on humans and
society. Practice, too, was absent or limited
to home remedies that had poor effi cacy
and often produced fatal results (e.g. the use
of lead, arsenic and other toxic compounds
in early pest control products). As a result,
millions have died from insect-spread
diseases such as black plague, yellow fever
and malaria.
In the early 20th century, there was a
drastic improvement in pest management.
The invention of synthetic insecticides
suddenly made it easy to control pest
insects. Insecticides were fairly inexpensive,
readily available and highly effective. The
knowledge of pest biology became less
critical and many insecticides were applied
with a single focus to eliminate the pest.
Issues such as insecticide resistance, appli-
cator safety and environmental con-
sequences were secondary. Practice too was
of less importance. Individuals with no
previous experience could pick up a sprayer
and spray the structure, and the pests would
'magically' disappear. In many cases the
pests would disappear for decades, a tribute
to the insecticide's effi cacy and persistence.
Today it is relatively easy to control pests
in the urban environment. This is due to the
Effective pest management in the urban
environment relies on the correct mixture
of knowledge and practice. Knowledge
relates to fundamental understanding of
pest biology, behaviour and ecology. In
contrast, practice is often defi ned as applied,
hands-on experience that is gained through
work in the fi eld. Although both knowledge
and practice are necessary for effective pest
management, the right amount of balance
between the two components may be
diffi cult to determine. In order to properly
discuss the importance of each factor, it
might be appropriate to take a historical
look at the changing role of knowledge
versus practice in pest management.
For millennia, and throughout much of
human history, insect pests such as lice,
fl eas, mosquitoes and ticks had a life-
threatening impact on human welfare and
were controlled without any knowledge or
practice. There were no insecticides and the
knowledge of pest biology was limited or
non-existent. This was long before the pest
management industry was established.
Knowledge was often absent, incorrect
when present and was limited to general
observations only. 'Outsmarting' or 'out-
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