APES in a BOX: Biological Pest Control - The intentional introduction of a predator species to control a pest species.

- Microorganisms, plants, and animals have all been used in certain circumstances to help control pest populations. - Can also refer to the use of chemicals that are directly derived from living organisms. Advantages of BPM - Control of pest population without negative environmental impacts associated with pesticide use. - Potential for use with organic agriculture. Disadvantages of BPM - Potential for non-target species to be impacted by the introduced control species. - Disruption of native food chains by the introduced species. - Unwanted proliferation of introduced species. - Complete eradication of pest population is usually not possible. - Can be costly to implement and control. Epic Failures of BPM - Cane Toads in Australia - Lady bugs have been used to successfully control aphids in some parts of the US while negatively impacting native species in others. - Several instances worldwide of the introduction of cats to control rodent population have often led to an overpopulation of cats which have destroyed native bird populations. BPM Success Stories - Use of parasitic nematodes to control many lawn and garden pests. - Use of flea beetles to control leafy spurge in North Dakota - Using bats to control mosquitos - Use of insect pheromones to attract pests to a trap - Sterilization and release of male members of pest species

APES in a BOX: Integrated Pest Management - A holistic approach to pest management involving biological control, cultivation techniques, and minimal use of synthetic pesticides to reduce pest populations to an economically tolerable level. Philosophy of IPM - Pest and crop are considered as part of an ecological system - The goal is to reduce the pest population to an economically acceptable level, not completely eradicate the pest population IPM Strategies - Crop rotation to disrupt pest populations - Creation of habitat for predators of pest population - Using pest resistant crop varieties - Intercropping makes the spread of pests more difficult - Altering planting times to disrupt pest life cycles - Using physical pest control methods such as using vacuums to remove pests, or spraying plants with hot water to destroy larvae - Narrow-spectrum pesticides are used only when the potential crop loss is greater than the cost of spraying the pesticides. Advantages of IPM - Reduction of environmental and health problems associated with synthetic pesticide use - Requires a great deal of education for farmers and landowners - Can be costly and not as immediately effective as synthetic pesticides - Pest population is usually not completely irradiated Disadvantages of IPM - Successful IPM requires farmers to be well educated on local pests and the ecological systems on their farms - IPM solutions vary from farm to farm

- Initial cost of IPM programs may be higher than conventional pesticide spraying Michael Pollan Discusses Monoculture and Colony Collapse Disorder - Monoculture About the way we grow food industrial in the country. Monocultures are very simple and also they are very complex, theyre simple and that they represent a simplification landscape. Every species eliminate about one. - They are complex because they need such as superstructure to hold them up, pesticide, machinery - Fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, - Pests love monocultures. Theres so much food that its population explodes. - Monocultures very vulnerable to disease - Exhaust soil - It contradicts logic of natural world, don't find monocultures in nature - Monoculture is making conditions where bees vulnerable to disease and are vulnerable to pesticides - Food system is unsustainable, its destroying the conditions - Monocultures will be the loss of the bees - Solution is to not expose bees to monoculture Twinkie vs Carrot - Carrots cost more than twinkies - The reason is that the government is helping the twikie makers more than the carrot growers - Our agricultural policies are subsidizing that cheap calorie of fat and carbohydrates. - Not subsidizing growers of specialty crops - Too much corn and soy beans leads to soda that are expanding Food Chain - All food is solar energy collected from the sun during photosynthesis - A food chain is a system of feeding

- No matter how industrial and machine like in the middle, either end is biological system - Biology -> Industry -> Biology - The best food chain is biological the whole way