Fifty years of the integrated control concept: the role of landscape ecology in IPM in San Joaquin valley cotton.

In defining the integrated control concept, Stern, Smith, van den Bosch and Hagan described 'understanding the ecosystem' as a key underpinning of the concept. In following years, Stern and van den Bosch continued to refine and expand the role of the ecological landscape. They and their colleagues developed cultural practices that took advantage of this understanding to limit the need of pesticide intervention in cotton in the San Joaquin Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. Research and extension activities in the intervening years built upon those fundamental concepts using geospatial tools and analytical techniques to refine current understanding and develop ecological landscape level approaches to manage Lygus hesperus (Knight) in San Joaquin Valley cotton, Gossypium hirsutum (L.) and more recently G. barbadense (L.). The result has been a significant drop in insecticide use against L. hesperus, with less than one application per season during the 1990 s and early 2000s.