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.
"They're very destructive when there's a lot of them, but one-on-one, what's not to love?" says Arianne Cease. She's talking about locusts.
Ecology
Jan 15, 2026
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33
Insects are often seen as invaders due to high-profile species like the yellow-legged (Asian) hornet, the harlequin ladybird and fire ant. But new research reveals insects are also major victims of invasive alien species—exacerbating ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2026
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319
Lush homeowner gardens and thriving farms and nurseries across the globe are fighting a tiny invader considered one of the world's most damaging pests.
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
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83
Colorado farmers plant tens of millions of corn seeds every year, nearly every one of them covered in a thin layer of insecticide.
Biotechnology
Jan 5, 2026
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491
Vast swaths of the ponderosa pine forests that blanket Colorado's Front Range mountains could turn rust-colored and die over the next five years as pine beetles begin to spread aggressively, new federal forecasts show.
Plants & Animals
Dec 29, 2025
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282
Parasitic plants are notorious agricultural pests that drain nutrients from crops and cause economic losses of more than USD 1 billion due to yield losses every year. Yet these plants almost never attack themselves or closely ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 19, 2025
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28
Using insects such as wasps to control agricultural pests remains a resilient method, despite increasing resistance, a new University of Stirling study has shown.
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2025
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21
Researchers have developed a new "color-coded" genetic method that makes it easy to distinguish male and female mosquitoes. This innovation can help solve a major bottleneck in mosquito control strategies that rely on releasing ...
Biotechnology
Dec 17, 2025
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36
JCU Professor of Marine Biology Morgan Pratchett has published new research in Biology demonstrating the best injection method to kill the problematic Crown-of-thorns starfish and prevent them from spawning.
Plants & Animals
Dec 12, 2025
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32
More than half a million people, the vast majority being children under the age of 5, die annually due to malaria, with Sub-Saharan Africa as the most highly burdened region. Mosquitoes belonging to the genus Anopheles carry ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 9, 2025
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23
