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.
Corn rootworms, pests responsible for billions of dollars in yearly crop losses, are evolving resistance that weakens even the latest biotechnology controls, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of ...
Biotechnology
Sep 23, 2025
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123
Precision agriculture uses tools and technologies such as GPS and sensors to monitor, measure and respond to changes within a farm field in real time. This includes using artificial intelligence technologies for tasks such ...
Biotechnology
Sep 23, 2025
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27
A bane of farmers' existence, it's estimated that plant-eating pests are responsible for the loss of up to 40% of pre-harvest yields globally. But a new generation of crop treatments that target only "bad" bugs could mean ...
Bio & Medicine
Sep 23, 2025
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33
New research is shining a light on one of genetics' enduring puzzles—how the workings of the so-called "selfish gene" could be harnessed to control harmful insect populations. By understanding the molecular basis of a selfish ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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72
In a small persimmon orchard in northern Greece, scientists carefully open paper bags to release thousands of flies, in an experiment aimed at blunting the destructive impact of invasive new species.
Agriculture
Sep 15, 2025
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32
Increased demand for food due to population growth, together with a reduction in suitable arable land, has made pesticides essential for ensuring food security. They play a key role in both increasing agricultural yields ...
Agriculture
Sep 11, 2025
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31
The latest weapon in Chicago's war against rats is plant-based, naturally flavored and nutritious.
Plants & Animals
Sep 2, 2025
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51
University of Minnesota researchers are studying the use of fungi as a tool to control invasive buckthorn, a problematic species that crowds out native plants and persistently degrades forests in the Midwest and Northeast.
Plants & Animals
Aug 27, 2025
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44
A research team led by Prof. Li Wenjun from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that a desert bacterium, Nocardiopsis alba B57, can simultaneously fight harmful fungi ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 27, 2025
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19
Corn is one of the most valuable cash crops globally, with annual grain production in the United States alone valued at nearly $80 billion. Fungicides are widely used to protect crops and promote yield, but research published ...
Ecology
Aug 21, 2025
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28
