Nurnicia viridis Muir, otherwise known as the green leaf-sucker, is an important pest of sugarcane in South Africa (Anon.',"; Dick). It is capable of causing considerable damage to this crop and has therefore been the subject of repeated pest population surveys. Studies of its life history, pest-host plant-relationships and means of biological control, are all currently receiving considerable a...

A major problem in insect pest and weed management is uncertainty. Managers are faced with three main types of uncertainty: uncertainty about biological and environmental processes, and observational uncertainty. Active adaptive management (AAM) is management with a deliberate plan for learning about the managed system, so that management can be improved in the face of uncertainty. We discuss t...

Context. Significant resources are spent annually in New Zealand controlling pests to mitigate impacts on native biodiversity and agricultural production, but there are few reliable estimates of the benefits. Concerns have been expressed about inconsistent monitoringmethodologies, differing frequencies and intensities of control across organisations, and poor definition of desired outcomes. Aim...

OBJECTIVES This epidemiological study was carried out in order to investigate the hypothesis of a relationship between cancer occurrence and occupational exposure in a population of municipal pest-control workers exposed to a wide range of pesticides and other chemicals. METHODS The study was designed as a mortality historical cohort study. The cohort comprised all subjects ever employed in a...

Plant diseases continue to challenge our global agricultural production systems resulting in an average of 13% annual yield loss despite our best efforts to manage them with fungicides, resistant cultivars, and a variety of agronomic practices. About forty years ago the concepts of biological control were first developed. Interest in the development of “nature’s own products” or biological cont...

In this article we present a model of insect infestation of grape vines and consider the optimal control of the pest through the use of egg pesticides. We show existence and uniqueness and present the results of some numerical simulations.

CONTEXT Bed bug (Cimex lectularius) infestations are rapidly increasing worldwide. Health consequences include nuisance biting and cutaneous and systemic reactions. The potential for bed bugs to serve as disease vectors and optimal methods for bed bug pest control and eradication are unclear. OBJECTIVES To present current knowledge of the health and medical effects of bed bugs and to explore ...

Integrated pest management (IPM), which combines physical, biological, and chemical control measures to complementary effect, is one of the most important approaches to environmentally friendly sustainable agriculture. To expand IPM, we need to develop new pest control measures, reinforce existing measures, and investigate interactions between measures. Continued progress in the development of ...