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Pest Control Essays

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Pest Control

Pests are organisms that reduce the quality or yield of a crop or plant (Biology AS textbook, Indge, Rowland, Baker). Pest control uses various techniques to eliminate populations of specific pests to increase productivity of crops. The two most common methods are the use of Pesticides and Biological Pest Control. This essay will show how and why Biological Pest Control is favoured over the use of Pesticides.

Biological Pest Control is the use of a specifically chosen organism to eat, kill, or otherwise harm a particular pest, and often referred to as 'natural enemies' according to the article Biological Control of Pest; www.smartgardening.com/Biological_Pest_Control.htm . These …show more content…

There is little chance of placing danger on the environment and the water quality with Biological control, as Pesticides can leech into water and soil having profoundly unknown effects upon its surrounding.

However Biological Control does have some draw-backs it take time for the organism to establish, therefore there's a short time lapse between introducing the organism and any significant difference in the numbers of pests, however Pesticides act very quickly.

Biological control requires planning and monitoring and good knowledge of the biology of both the pest and the enemy.

Biological control sometimes has 100% success rate, which is not always beneficial as wiping away a whole population of native pests, may also prove to disturb the Food Web, because the organism will also then become extinct itself according to Biological Review Volume 13 No 3 Jan 2001.

A famous example of the use of Biological control is that of the Ladybirds appetite for aphids, they are regarded as beneficial insects for controlling a variety of plant pests.

A pesticide is a substance intended for preventing, destroying repelling or mitigating a pest. Pests can be insects, mice and other

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