Arthropods as pests in crops, vectors of diseases, pollinators, and natural enemies of pests are of huge economic importance. They affect livestock, human health and food supplies around the world. This unique book examines and reviews how light and colour can be used to enhance pest management in agricultural and medical applications by manipulating the optical responses of arthropods. Arthropods use optical cues to find food, oviposition sites and to navigate. Light also regulates their diurnal and seasonal activities. Plants use optical cues to attract or deter various species of arthropod. In this book, an international team of experts show how light can be used successfully to attract, arrest, confuse and deter arthropods as well as to disrupt their biological clocks.

These proceedings begin with an introductory section that deals with the definition, framework, and role of biologically based control, with emphasis on development of a holistic systems approach to lead the field into the 21st century. The following five sections include papers on biocontrol agents for suppression of insects, biocontrol agents for suppression of plant pathogens, biocontrol agents for suppression of weeds, natural compounds in pest management, and genetic manipulation of biocontrol agents. The last section deals with implementation of needs, issues, and challenges. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Sustainable Management of Arthropod Pests of Tomato provides insight into the proper and appropriate application of pesticides and the integration of alternative pest management methods. The basis of good crop management decisions is a better understanding of the crop ecosystem, including the pests, their natural enemies, and the crop itself. This book provides a global overview of the biology and management of key arthropod pests of tomatoes, including arthropod-vectored diseases. It includes information that places tomatoes in terms of global food production and food security, with each pest chapter including the predators and parasitoids that have specifically been found to have the greatest impact on reducing that particular pest. In-depth coverage of the development of resistance in tomato plants and the biotic and abiotic elicitors of resistance and detailed information about the sustainable management of tomato pests is also presented. Provides basic biological and management information for arthropod pests of tomato from a global perspective, encompassing all production types (field, protected, organic) Includes chapters on integrated management of tomato pests and specific aspects of tomato pest management, including within protected structures and in organic production Presents management systems that have been tested in the real-world by the authors of each chapter Fully illustrated throughout with line drawings and color plates that illustrate key pest and beneficial arthropods associated with tomato production around the world

Among the highlights of this book is the use of novel insecticides acting on a specific site in an insect group and are compatible with natural enemies and the environment. One of such approaches is based on disrupting the activity of biochemical sites acting on transcription factors such as the Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) family, anti juvenile hormone (AJH) agents that target JH biosynthetic enzymes, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) and bursicon as a target for insect control. Another one is the biotechnology or the genetic approach such as gene silencing (RNA interference) and Bt-crops. Other sections of the book are devoted to the plant’s natural products, optical manipulation and the use of nanotechnology for improving insect control methods.

Bruce E. Tabashnik and Richard T. Roush Pesticide resistance is an increasingly urgent worldwide problem. Resistance to one or more pesticides has been documented in more than 440 species of insects and mites. Resistance in vectors of human dise8se, particularly malaria-transmit ting mosquitoes, is a serious threat to public health in many nations. Agricultural productivity is jeopardized because of widespread resistance in crop and livestock pests. Serious resistance problems are also evident in pests of the urban environ ment, most notably cockroaches. Better understanding of pesticide resistance is needed to devise techniques for managing resistance (Le. , slowing, preventing, or reversing development of resistance in pests and promoting it in beneficial natural enemies). At the same time, resistance is a dramatic example of evolution. Knowledge of resistance can thus provide fundamental insights into evolution, genetics, physiology, and ecology. Resistance management can help to reduce the harmful effects of pesticides by decreasing rates of pesticide use and prolonging the efficacy of environmentally safe pesticides. In response to resistance problems, the concentration or frequency of pesticide applications is often increased. Effective resistance management would reduce this type of increased pesticide use. Improved monitoring of resis tance would also decrease the number of ineffective pesticide applications that are made when a resistance problem exists but has not been diagnosed. Resistance often leads to replacement of one pesticide with another that is more expensive and less compatible with alternative controls.

In order to try to initiate the development of a responsible regulatory framework for any eventual release of transgenic insects, the FAO, IAEA and IPPC convened a consultants meeting in Rome during 2002. This publication summarizes the deliberations of the group and provides full texts of the working papers.