Pest control methods comprise targeted strategies and technologies used to suppress, manage, or eradicate populations of organisms considered pests in agricultural, urban, industrial, or stored-product settings. They include chemical control (synthetic or biological pesticides with defined modes of action), biological control (predators, parasitoids, pathogens), cultural practices (crop rotation, sanitation, habitat manipulation), mechanical and physical methods (traps, barriers, temperature treatments), and genetic or biotechnological approaches (sterile insect technique, transgenic crops expressing pesticidal traits). Within integrated pest management frameworks, these methods are combined and optimized based on pest biology, monitoring data, resistance management principles, and environmental and human health risk assessments.
An unusually mild winter followed by a wet spring made last year one of the worst in a decade for Pennsylvania soybean growers. It wasn't the soybeans that were the problem; it was the slugs. The pests survived the warm winter ...
Agriculture
Apr 13, 2026
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Predators don't expect to be preyed upon, and especially not by herbivores such as caterpillars. The slow-moving, leaf-eating larvae may only intend to consume plants, but sometimes tiny creatures making their homes under ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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9
A fungus that can wipe out up to 50% of a sugar beet crop may soon meet its match in a new generation of smart disease forecasting. A new study published in Phytopathology shows how combining drone imagery, weather data, ...
Agriculture
Apr 7, 2026
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A longstanding mystery in mosquito biology has been solved, opening a potential new path for controlling mosquitoes and the diseases they spread. For decades, scientists believed that juvenile hormone, a chemical signal essential ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 6, 2026
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40
Gene drives—a genetic engineering approach that quickly spreads specific genetic changes throughout a population, whether to kill it off or add a new trait—may have potential for controlling weeds. But so far, gene drives ...
Biotechnology
Apr 3, 2026
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A flesh-eating parasitic fly has spread north through Mexico to within a few hundred miles of the U.S. southern border. The New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) lays its eggs in open wounds and in the orifices of ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 30, 2026
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13
A new study from Kiel University shows how the massive exchange of mobile genetic elements between fungi can impair their effectiveness against insects and ticks. Microbial fungi, such as the genus Metarhizium, are often ...
Evolution
Mar 23, 2026
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9
The pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) is the most devastating parasite of pine forests across Eurasia. To combat the pinewood nematode, European regulation requires that Member States clear-cut all susceptible ...
Ecology
Mar 18, 2026
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11
A Purdue University contraceptive vaccine seeks to address animal overpopulation by markedly reducing fertility in feral horses, deer, swine and other animals. Dr. Harm HogenEsch, distinguished professor of immunopathology ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 8, 2026
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23
Trust in others and prior experience with feral hogs were significant factors in whether landowners would commit effort and dollars to controlling the destructive animals, two studies have found.
Plants & Animals
Mar 6, 2026
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