Historical Development of Pest Management

Source: Norris, R. F., Caswell-Chen, E. P., & Kogan, M. (2003). Concepts in integrated pest management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

•Dawn of agriculture approximately 10,000 BC• Severe food shortages and famines have always been a threat to humans•Greatest crop losses due to:

1. Inclement weather2. Disease3. Insects and other arthropods4. Vertebrate pests

Ancient Times (10,000 BC to 0)•Major crop species domesticated• Wheat, barley, oats, rice, maize, soybean, beans,

potato, cotton, yam, coconut, grapes, sorghum•Majority of work done with manual labor• plowing introduced in 4,000 BCE

•Grains stored• Destruction by rodents, insects was common problem

• Lack of food was constraint to population growth•Weeds were among the most easily controlled crop pest• With large labor force, as is still the case today in

developing nations

Important Dates 10,000 BCE to 0• Silkworm domesticated• Insect life cycles begin to be understood

• Sulfur discovered as an insecticide• Botanical insecticides were discovered and put into use• Pyrethrins, nicotine

• Cultural controls were considered in pest management• E.g., growing susceptible crops on slopes rather than

valleys

CE 1 to Middle Ages• Little was recorded• Lack of understanding of pest biology• Roman gods of rust and weeds• Claviceps purpurea• Ergot

• Rye, wheat are susceptible• Under moist conditions

Important DatesCE 1 to Middle Ages• Silkworm droppings used for control of rice pests• Connection between crop phenology and insect attack was made• Ants as biological controls• Insecticidal soaps in China

Seventeenth Century•Microscopes and the scientific method• Insect life cycle better understood• Insects arose from eggs

Important Dates17th Century• Better of understanding of how plants grow, although not complete• Invention of the compound microscope•Made the connection between host plants and susceptible crops• Removed barberry bushes from wheat growing areas

to remove host of rust fungus•Discovered bacteria•Greater understand of insect life cycles• Arsenic as an insecticide

Eighteenth Century• Carl Linnaeus developed binomial nomenclature• Two big discoveries• Heat related to insect growth, development and

reproduction• Plants have natural defenses against insects

• Seed drill allowed for uniform crops to be planted• Aided in weed control• Jethro Tull

•Nematodes discovered, not understood

Important Dates18th Century• Jethro Tull accelerated adoption of animal power in crop husbandry• Mainly for weeding• Reduced the need for human labor, freed people up to

do other things• Awareness that fungi tend to spread through spores (“dust”) from infected crops to non-infected crops

Nineteenth Century• Society began to assume that they could control the

environment• Agricultural research programs, land grant universities• First recognition of a microorganism causing disease (late blight

in potato)• Discovery of bacterial pathogens• Living organisms arise from other living organisms• Koch’s postulates

• Procedure for demonstrating that diseases can be passed from one organism to another

• Only works with pathogens that can be cultured• Introduction of the “silver bullet” approach to pest management• First pesticide application equipment developed in France• Introduction of new pests to new places increases with world

travel

Important Dates19th Century• First record of plant pest resistance• Increasing acceptance of the idea that plant diseases are not self-generating•USDA is established• Copper sulfate and lime used as a fungicide• Bordeaux mixture

• First demonstration that bacteria causes disease• Fire blight of pear

• First observation that monoculture increases the incidence of disease (in coffee)•Observation that pathogens are vectored by insects• Viruses first described

Early Twentieth Century• Five major pest control methods in use• Legislative, cultural, biological, genetic and chemical

•More knowledge about crop pest life cycles• Increased crop yields worldwide due to plant breeding, better pest control, and increased use of fertilizers• Introduction of fossil fuel use•Dominated by the belief that pesticides were the cure for every pest problem• A new chemical can be developed to solve every

problem

Important DatesEarly 20th Century• Increased mechanization•Use of harmful , albeit effective, chemicals for pest control•Discovery that disease resistance can be inherited• The term biological control could be used• First incidence of insect resistance to a insecticide• First aerial application of a pesticide• The use of organic insecticides increased• Most were not selective

•Mueller given the nobel prize for DDT • Seven years later, first DDT resistant houseflies found

Late Twentieth Century• Realizing that pesticides have limitations• Undesirable side effects

• Resistance to pesticides becoming widespread• Beginning to take a more balanced ecological view• IPM• Integration of several different pest management

tactics

Important DatesLate 20th Century•Gain an understanding of DNA and genetics, paving the way for genetic manipulation of organisms• Identified the first insect sex hormone, influencing insect pest control• Silent Spring brings attention to hazards of pesticide use to society at large• Resistance to herbicides first documented• Creation of EPA in 1972•GMO’s gain widespread use, but concerns grow over the safety and efficacy of such technologies

Important Dates• Look at the important dates on your handout•Which of these do you think we the most significant?•Why?

•Questions for Wednesday• Looking to the future, what do you see?• How will we handle pests in the future?