Biology of Pests and its Relation to Pest Control - Essay Example

?Biology of Pests and its Relation to Pest Control Introduction A broader knowledge of the field of biology is a needed background for anyone who wishes to work in the area of insect pest eradication, as it gives the background knowledge necessary to understand the physiology of the pests being dealt with. Such an understanding of the underlying physiology of insect pests is essential to eradicating them. Understanding the biology of these insects helps an exterminator to determine what the insects need, where the insects have gone to get it, and how to get rid of the pests infesting a building. It also helps to determine whether there is an infestation in a given building, what methods should be used to remove it, and provides wider methods for the creation of new pesticides and insect repellents. Reason For Entry, Method of Entry, and Location The primary reason that an understanding of the biology of an insect pests helps in exterminating the pests by giving an understanding as to why the insects would come inside that building at that particular location. Generally, these reasons include coming into buildings seeking food, water, or shelter from the elements. For example, cockroaches are attracted to moisture around pipes and drains, and so buildings with such sources of moisture are more likely to contain cockroaches than drier buildings. Ants, like cockroaches, are also attracted to leaking pipes or condensation build-up, and will enter buildings or rooms in search of this moisture. Ants are also attracted to food sources such as sugar, especially in cases of general poor sanitation. Locating those food and moisture sources can help determine why the pests are entering the building. Once the reasons for the pests coming in has been determined, the moisture or food source can be removed. Removing the source of food or water should help reduce the number of pests coming into the building, and therefore reduce the difficulty of eradicating the infestation of that building. Once the pests inside have been eradicated and the reason new pests were entering the building is removed, there should be no future issues with that particular pest in that building unless a new source of food or water is presented (Juneau et al., 2010). Additionally, understanding the biology of the insects can help an exterminator understand how the pests are entering the building of infestation in the first place. Crawling insects generally come in through openings into the building which are accessible from the ground. For example, insects may enter buildings through cracks in the exterior masonry or other building materials, or other gaps in the exterior of the building. Doors left open especially can attract ground-level crawling insects. Small gaps and openings around water pipes, heating and cooling air vents, and exterior windows and doors, can all provide access to crawling insects. However, it is not only ground-level access that will allow in crawling pests that should be looked out for. Exterior landscaping features such as climbing vines, bushes and shrubbery, or tall grasses, may all provide access for crawling insects to reach open windows or other access points that are higher off the ground and would not normally be accessible to such pests (Juneau et al., 2010). Flying pests could obviously access higher points such as open windows that are lacking screens or that have damaged screens with holes that could allow in insects. Looking for such points of access could help determine where the pests are entering the building; blocking these entry points would therefore help stop the pests from infesting the building. Understanding the methods the insects are using to enter the building will help determine where the blockades should be placed in order to stop them. Knowledge of the biology of the pests can also help determine what locations in the buildings may be hiding those pests, and therefore where to look to eradicate them. For example, the bodies of bed bugs are almost completely flat. This allows them to hide in extremely small spaces where the average individual would not think to look for them, such as underneath the kick plates of doors, underneath wall panelling, or inside the face plates of electrical outlets. In addition to bed bugs, other pests may hide in extremely small or unusual places, and an understanding of their living habits is vital to determining where they might hide. Carpenter bees, for example, will drill into exposed wood on the exterior of a building, making small holes that would be unremarkable to most people who did not know what to look for. In order to eradicate these pests, the exterminator must be aware of their biology and the locations in which they are prone to hiding, in order to seek them out and remove them from their hiding places (Juneau et al., 2010). Being aware of the biology and the life cycles of pests also allows an exterminator to find the larval and pupal stages of unwanted pests. Cockroaches, for example, go through a larval stage before emerging as the adult insect most people would recognize. Each species of cockroach has a different appearance of larvae, and each species has a different temperature range and humidity that is ideal for reproduction and living. Knowledge of what these larval stages look like and what types of environments they prefer can allow the exterminator to locate and eradicate them before they become adult cockroaches. Determination of Infestation The biology of pests also comes into play when looking to see if a building is suffering an infestation in the first place. In order to recognize the signs of an infestation, the exterminator must know what signs to look for, and how to determine the importance of these signs. For example, the exterminator must be able to determine the difference between dirt and insect droppings, and be able to recognize the trails left by moving insects. In addition, the exterminator must be able to locate live and dead insects. In order to do so, the exterminator must know where the insects tend to live and hide, and where their bodies are likely to be found after they have been killed. Recognizing the early signs of an infestation, such as finding the eggs of an insect species, can help stop the infestation before it causes serious damage and inflicts major financial costs on the owners of the building (Fouche et al, 2000). Understanding the biology of the pests can also help determine what pest that is likely to be infesting the building given the conditions of the building and what evidence has been left behind. Knowing this can help determine what traps should be used to catch and eradicate that pest. For example, pheromone traps will work only on some pests and only during certain portions of the insect life cycle (Fouche et al, 2000). Wider Methods of Pest Removal On a broader scope, the use of natural pest deterrents can help reduce the numbers of unwanted insects outside of buildings. Using plants that attract the predators of the pests around, in, or near other farmed plants can help reduce the numbers of pests that eat the farmed plants, without the use of chemical pesticides (Schied et al, 2009). The same techniques can be used around buildings to deter nuisance pests from approaching and entering the building. The scents given off by such deterrent plants can be sprayed in and around buildings to stop infestations. Knowledge of the communication techniques of insects can also help to develop future techniques for the eradication of such insects. Insects generally communicate through the use of pheromones and seriochemicals, some insects emitting these chemicals and others reacting to them as they are absorbed through pores on their antennae. Insect repellents based on these chemicals have been used to keep aphids out of plant fields without the use of chemical pesticides. This was achieved through the use of odorants that mimicked the alert communications of the aphids (Zhou, Field, and He, 2010). The same technologies can be applied to pest repellents for buildings. Conclusions Clearly, a knowledge of the biology of the insects that the exterminator is trying to eliminate can aid in this endeavour. The biology of the pests affects their reasoning for coming into the building, the methods they use for entering the building, and the places they may live and hide once they have established themselves in the building. It can help determine if there is an infestation at all, an important determinant when hiring a pest exterminator, and what methods should be used to exterminate a given infestation. Additionally, knowledge of their biology can be used in designing natural methods of killing and repelling such pests without the use of harsh chemicals. This knowledge can be applied to the everyday activities of exterminating insect pests, and is vital to continuing on successfully in such a career. References BAX, N. J. & THRESHER, R. E. 2009. Ecological, behavioral, and genetic factors influencing the recombinant control of invasive pests. Ecological Applications, 19, 873-888. FOUCHE, C., GASKELL, M., KOIKE, S. T., MITCHELL, J. & SMITH, R. 2000. Insect Pest Management for Organic Crops. Vegetable Research and Information Center, University of California - Davis. JUNEAU, K., GILLETT-KAUFMAN, J., LEPPLA, N., LEPPLA, K., MARTIN, K. & WALKER, W. 2010. Integrated Pest Management Policy and Treatment Options for University Housing. Gainesville FL: University of Florida. SCHIED, J., LEIMGRUBER, A., WILLARETH, M., NAGEL, P., PFIFFNER, L., LUKA, H. & WYSS, E. Year. Do wildflower strips enhance pest control in organic cabbage? In: MASON, P. G., GILLESPIE, D. R. & VINCENT, C., eds. Third International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods, 8-13 Feb 2009 Christchurch, New Zealand. Morgantown, WV: United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 601-602. ZHOU, J.-J., FIELD, L. M. & HE, X. L. 2010. Insect Odorant-Binding Proteins: Do They Offer an Alternative Pest Control Strategy? Outlooks on Pest Management, 21, 31-34. Read More