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.
The African armyworm is a highly destructive migratory pest that damages maize, sorghum, millet and sugarcane. These caterpillars also cause indirect damage to livestock by destroying grazing lands and pastures.
Ecology
Jul 27, 2026
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6
New World screwworm, a concerning pest that mainly affects livestock and wildlife, was detected in South Texas in June 2026. It has since expanded northward in Texas, and there was one case in New Mexico as of July 23, 2026.
Ecology
Jul 24, 2026
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8
In the United States, Google's, now Alphabet's, Debug initiative has asked the federal government for permission to release up to 32 million sterilized male mosquitoes in California and Florida.
Ecology
Jul 21, 2026
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15
Earth remains full of undiscovered species and unexplored interactions that continue to fascinate us, including, in the most ordinary places, the fields where our food is grown.
Ecology
Jul 21, 2026
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10
Europe's great cormorant has recovered from near extinction to overabundance in half a century, stoking a long-running debate over population control between fishers troubled by its voracious appetite and conservationists.
Ecology
Jul 18, 2026
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19
Ticks that survive less-than-lethal doses of pesticide are able to withstand dangerous cold, which could help them spread tick-borne diseases farther north, a UC study has found. Biologists with the University of Cincinnati ...
Ecology
Jul 17, 2026
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6
A new analysis from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Soybean Association finds that Illinois corn and soybean farmers could lose up to $609 million per year—representing a 3.6% revenue loss—if ...
Agriculture
Jul 16, 2026
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45
A tiny Asian-origin beetle that has devastated ash forests in North America has been detected in the European Union for the first time, in Hungary and Slovakia, authorities said.
Ecology
Jul 16, 2026
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22
Humans have been turning seeds and soil into food for thousands of years.
Agriculture
Jul 14, 2026
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33
Plant researchers from Wales and Uganda have collaborated on a community enterprise project in rural Uganda, becoming the first to create an affordable and highly effective mosquito repellent distilled from locally grown ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 7, 2026
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