Advances in understanding the ecology of invasive crop insect pests and their impact on IPM

Publication date: 28/10/2019
Extent: pages

Contributions by: Robert Venette, USDA Forest Service, USA; and Amy Morey, University of Minnesota, USA

Chapter synopsis: Invasive species represent one of the greatest threats to agriculture and commercial forestry, worldwide. Examples of invasive pests continue to increase with increasing world trade and human transport, but all biological invasions progress through similar stages of arrival, establishment, spread and impact. This chapter reviews how management strategies change as invasions progress. As problems from invasive species increase, some scientists and decision-makers question if species-by-species research and farm-by-farm management are the optimum ways to address the problem. Here, the authors address two more fundamental questions: can the various approaches to invasive species management still be considered integrated pest management, and why does it matter if they can or cannot? Lastly, the authors describe invasive species as a ‘wicked problem’, for policy-makers, researchers and stakeholders. Great achievements can be made if the problem is tamed, but research and management efforts may be jeopardized if it is not.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0047.06