Pest Management; Proceedings of an International Conference, October 25-29, 1976

Norton, G.A. & Holling, C.S. (1979). Pest Management; Proceedings of an International Conference, October 25-29, 1976. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0 08 023427 5

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Abstract

Pests and people were competitors even before the development of agriculture. Control of pests has involved genetic breeding for resistance, cultural practices, biological control, and, preeminently, pesticides. Such control measures were the product of the union of knowledge from biology, ecology, chemistry, and genetics. Increasingly, however, new problems have emerged--unexpected monsters from the dark.

Now a new union of disciplines has joined in an approach to pest management that emphasizes, not new "magic bullets", but, rather, optimal ways to use existing techniques of control. This new union joins ecology and economics with mathematical modelling techniques and methods from the policy sciences, particularly optimization.

This book reports the results of a five-day international conference held in Laxenburg, Austria, and hosted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, at which the five groups leading this new advance exchanged ideas and experiences. Each group, from Canada, Japan, the UK, the USA, and the USSR, described one or more examples of case studies of pest management in their country. The various mathematical models developed to describe the dynamics of the pest population and its interaction with the affected crop and attempts at its control are presented in some detail in this volume, together with the successful results of using the models to obtain the best possible control of particular pests. In addition, the research and educational programs of each group are described.

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