Pest control is the process of managing pests to protect people, property, and the environment. This may include exclusion, repulsion, physical removal, and chemical application.
Pests are organisms that cause damage, nuisance, or interfere with desired activities. Pest control aims to eliminate or reduce their numbers to an acceptable level.
Taking a preventative approach to pest control, such as regular inspections, keeping waste and food storage areas clean, sealing entry points, and altering the environment, can help prevent pest problems from occurring. For example, removing food sources like ripe fruit from counters, ensuring that trash cans are tightly sealed, and keeping woodpiles away from buildings and landscaping can discourage many pest infestations.
Observing seasonal variations is also important for pest management. For instance, rodents seek shelter during colder weather and may enter homes, while cockroaches and mosquitoes might increase in numbers due to warmer temperatures. Recognizing these changes can allow homeowners to take measures to prevent an infestation from taking hold, such as storing foods in the refrigerator or thoroughly cleaning outdoor toys before bringing them inside.
A thorough inspection can reveal pest entrance points that might need to be sealed, such as cracks and crevices in walls and around windows. Maintaining a well-groomed yard can also deter pests from entering a home by keeping grass and shrubbery neatly trimmed and avoiding overgrowth. Adding a water source like a fountain or dehumidifier can discourage pests by providing a place for them to drink and regulate body temperature.
Other ways to prevent pest problems include reducing areas where they can hide, such as under litter or debris, and using traps and baits that attract them and kill them. Pesticides are used to combat pests and should always be carefully applied, following label instructions and warnings to avoid harming humans or pets.
Pest control should only be done when the level of damage caused by the pest becomes unacceptable, as it can be expensive and harmful to health and the environment. Threshold-based decision-making involves scouting for the presence of pests and analyzing whether controlling them will be more beneficial than simply waiting for them to disappear naturally. This is especially important since natural controls such as predators, parasites, and pathogens can be used to control pest populations. In addition, pesticides can only be used once a year and are not effective against new infestations that develop from untreated nests or colonies.
Suppression
Keeping pests at bay by controlling their numbers and damage involves a careful consideration of the ecology of the organism, its life cycle and potential harm to other organisms. IPM professionals try to minimize the amount of control material used to prevent a problem from occurring, reducing pesticide use as much as possible.
Physical controls are devices and machines that can change a pest’s environment, preventing the pest from accessing its food or shelter. Fences, barriers, traps and screens can all be utilized to keep pests away from crops, homes or livestock. Altering the availability of water, sunlight or air can also help to suppress some pests.
Natural enemies (predators, parasitoids, and pathogens) can also be used to control pest populations. These natural enemies often occupy the same habitat as the pest, but are attracted to different prey and predators. For example, flies and wasps feed on pest insects, while nematodes attack the insect’s internal organs. Diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi may also reduce the rate of growth or reproduction of some pests.
Some of these natural enemies can be introduced to an area where they are not naturally found in sufficient numbers to suppress a pest population. This is called classical biological control and requires extensive research into the biology of the pest and its potential natural enemies, as well as a carefully planned release of the biological control agent(s) in the field. Alternatively, natural enemies can be augmented in an area where they are present in low numbers by mass-rearing them in insectaries and then releasing them on a regular basis or inundatively.
Other kinds of chemical pest controls include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Many of these are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and must be studied and approved for safe human and ecological use. Using these chemicals in combination with other methods can sometimes provide effective pest control.
Adding materials to a habitat can also help to suppress pests, such as adding boron to insulation that’s designed to kill self-grooming insects like ants and cockroaches. The EPA-registered product can be added to insulation in buildings and is sold only by licensed pest management professionals as part of an integrated pest management program.
Eradication
Generally speaking, pest control is most effective when preventive and suppressive methods are used together. Several types of pest control techniques may be employed: cultural, biological, mechanical and chemical. Ideally, one should try to avoid the use of chemicals whenever possible.
Modern life is hectic enough without having to worry about a sudden invasion of pests. Often, a few simple steps can keep them at bay.
Seal cracks and crevices in your home to stop pests from entering. Repair leaky roofs, faucets and pipes. Drain puddles and standing water. Keep outdoor containers tightly closed. Place rat- and cockroach-deterring baits in places where pests are most likely to be found (e.g., under sinks).
Eliminate sources of food. Throw out or remove food that has gone bad. Keep garbage cans and litter bins tightly sealed. Remove bird feeders during winter, as birds are more likely to eat frozen foods than they would in summer.
Some pest problems can only be eradicated by eliminating the host organism. Vaccination programs have succeeded in eliminating yellow fever, smallpox and poliomyelitis, but there remain serious challenges for other diseases, such as malaria, which is resistant to insecticides, and the potentially lethal guinea worm, or dracunculiasis.
Regardless of whether you are dealing with disease-causing organisms or garden pests, always read and follow the label directions when using any type of pesticide. Deliberately violating the instructions on a pesticide product is illegal and can endanger your health and that of those around you.
Pesticides come in a variety of forms: solid, liquid, powder and spray. The form affects how the pesticide enters your body and what it does to it once inside.
Chemicals work by disrupting or killing the pest’s nervous system. They can also harm the environment by contaminating soil or water supplies and by releasing toxic gases into the air.
Other types of pest control involve controlling the environment in which the pests live. For example, garden pests can be controlled by removing any plants or flowers that are overcrowded, or by using traps that lure and kill them (e.g., snap and sticky traps for mice and rats, flies, flypaper and swatters). For agricultural pests, good sanitation practices are essential to remove soil, crop residues, weed seeds and other materials from equipment before moving it to another field. In addition, scouting is critical to identifying pest conditions, such as population levels, stage of development and damage potential.
Monitoring
Keeping tabs on pest populations can help an institution decide when and how to control them. Monitoring — scouting for, identifying and assessing pests — can lead to the development of action thresholds (the levels at which you take control actions to avoid unacceptable damage or injury). Thresholds are essential in IPM strategies and can be used to guide and evaluate treatment decisions.
Thresholds are based on the natural population of a species and may be adjusted for different environments. For example, a mosquito threshold might be set higher in an urban area than in a rural setting because of differing environmental factors such as available water sources and vegetation.
Once a pest is identified, the next step is to identify the best control tactic(s). The correct identification can make all the difference in the effectiveness of an intervention. For instance, if a pest is found in a facility, you need to understand what’s drawing them there – is it food debris, odors or moisture accumulation? Are incoming and outgoing shipments being infested? Once you have the answers to these questions, you can determine the most effective control techniques.
A pest problem can have a negative impact on people and their environment, including human health problems like asthma or allergies. It can also damage buildings and create fire hazards and food safety issues. It is the responsibility of every person and organization to do what they can to prevent, detect, report and respond to pest-related problems.
Physical and mechanical controls can be used to deter pests and keep them away from sensitive areas such as collections storage spaces. These include exclusion tactics, such as screening and caulking, and the use of repellents to frighten and deter them. Some pests can be controlled with the introduction of other organisms into an environment to suppress or eliminate them — known as biological controls.
Many pests are controlled by a complex network of interrelated ecological and biological factors that influence their numbers, behavior and interactions. When any one of these is disrupted, the balance can be upset, resulting in the emergence of unwanted organisms. To maintain a healthy ecosystem, it is important that every person and business involved in pest management work together to protect the well-being of humans and wildlife.