Cropping sequence and length of rotation play an important role in potato production. Too often, growers are forced to base their cropping system decisions on short-term economic survival. Our market-based economy rewards economic efficiency and has helped push the trend to larger farms with lower production costs. Improving economic efficiency, with large, specialized potato equipment, means f...

Plants produce a wide range of allelochemicals to defend against herbivore attack, and generalist herbivores have evolved mechanisms to avoid, sequester, or detoxify a broad spectrum of natural defense compounds. Successful arthropod pests have also developed resistance to diverse classes of pesticides and this adaptation is of critical importance to agriculture. To test whether mechanisms to o...

Epacromius coerulipes (Ivanov) is one of the most widely distributed locusts. To date, the main methods to kill locusts still rely on chemical controls, which can result in the selection of locusts with resistance to chemical pesticides. Butene-fipronil is a new pesticide that was discovered by the structural modification of fipronil. This pesticide has been used to control various agricultural...

This bulletin describes plant protection in Taiwan, systems of farmer education and the monitoring of produce for pesticide residues. It describes the results of experiments to test the exposure of farmers to chemical pesticides during application, and the toxicity which resulted. It also discusses various tests of pesticide resistance among pest populations, using GPS and GIS. Resistance manag...

Biological control is not new, it is simply newly appreciated. This renewed appreciation stems from the widespread insecticide treadmill which is largely a product of insecticide disruption of the balance of insect communities. Biological control is a natural phenomenon; the regulation of plant and animal numbers by natural enemies. In this broad sense, biological control is vital to public hea...

Malaria modeling can inform policy and guide research for malaria elimination and eradication from local implementation to global policy. A research and development agenda for malaria modeling is proposed, to support operations and to enhance the broader eradication research agenda. Models are envisioned as an integral part of research, planning, and evaluation, and modelers should ideally be i...

Pesticide resistance is a major concern in natural populations and a model trait to study adaptation. Despite the importance of this trait, the dynamics of its evolution and of its ecological consequences remain largely unstudied. To fill this gap, we performed experimental evolution with replicated populations of Caenorhabditis elegans exposed to the pesticide Levamisole during 20 generations....

Helicoverpa armigera has recently invaded South and Central America, and appears to be spreading rapidly. We update a previously developed potential distribution model to highlight the global invasion threat, with emphasis on the risks to the United States. The continued range expansion of H. armigera in Central America is likely to change the invasion threat it poses to North America qualitati...

Insecticide resistance is an increasing problem faced by those who need insecticides to efficiently control medical, veterinary and agricultural insect pests. In many insects, the problem extends to all major groups of insecticides. Since the first case of DDT resistance in 1947, the incidence of resistance has increased annually at an alarming rate. It has been estimated that there are at leas...