Integrated Pest Management

• A. International Pesticide Management
• B. Integrated Pest Management ✓
• C. Immediate Pest Mitigation
• D. Indoor Pest Monitoring

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sustainable approach that combines biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools to manage pests while minimizing economic, health, and environmental risks. Chemical control is used as a last resort.

• A. The number of pesticide applications needed per season
• B. The pest population level at which pest control action should be taken to prevent economic damage ✓
• C. The maximum amount of pesticide allowed per application
• D. The time of day when pests are most active

An action threshold (or economic threshold) is the pest population density or damage level at which control action is justified. Below this level, the cost of pest damage is less than the cost of control measures.

• A. Spraying a synthetic insecticide
• B. Releasing ladybugs to control aphids ✓
• C. Pulling weeds by hand
• D. Installing a screen on a window

Biological control uses living organisms (natural enemies) to suppress pest populations. Releasing ladybugs (Coccinellidae) to prey on aphids is a classic example. Other biocontrol agents include parasitic wasps, predatory mites, and Bt bacteria.

• A. Watching television news about pest outbreaks
• B. Regularly inspecting and identifying pest populations and assessing damage levels ✓
• C. Reading product labels
• D. Checking weather forecasts only

Monitoring is the foundation of IPM. It involves regular field scouting, using traps, identifying pests accurately, counting pest numbers, and assessing damage. This information drives all pest management decisions.

• A. Chemical control
• B. Cultural control ✓
• C. Biological control
• D. Mechanical control

Crop rotation is a cultural control method that disrupts pest life cycles by changing the host plant. Pests that are adapted to one crop cannot survive when a non-host crop is planted. Other cultural controls include sanitation, timing of planting, and resistant varieties.

• A. Eliminate all pests in an area
• B. Monitor pest populations and detect their presence ✓
• C. Replace all chemical pesticides
• D. Attract beneficial insects

Pheromone traps use synthetic copies of insect sex or aggregation pheromones to attract and capture target pests. They are primarily used for monitoring — detecting pest presence and tracking population trends to time control actions.

• A. A pest's natural fear of pesticides
• B. The genetic ability of pest populations to survive pesticide exposure that previously controlled them ✓
• C. The resistance of a container to leaking
• D. A pest's preference for certain food sources

Pest resistance develops when repeated exposure to the same pesticide selects for genetically resistant individuals in a pest population. Over generations, the proportion of resistant individuals increases until the pesticide is no longer effective.

• A. Applying Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)
• B. Installing row covers or screens to exclude pests ✓
• C. Using herbicide-resistant crop varieties
• D. Releasing parasitic wasps

Mechanical and physical controls use physical barriers, traps, or manual removal to manage pests. Row covers, screens, mulches, tillage, hand-picking, and sticky traps are all examples of physical/mechanical control methods.