Insects and People
• Insects and People
Types of Pest Control
Chemical control: Control of pest population through the
disruption of insects hormones or nervous system.
(organophosphates, Pyrethroids)
Classical Biocontrol : importation and release of an organism
outside its natural range for purpose of controlling a pest species
Natural Biocontrol : Enhances agricultural habitats (i.e. make
productive systems more complex and insecticide free) so natural
enemies can persist and aid in the pest control
Types of Pest Control
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
1st promoted ~60’s b/c of failures in chemical control
Responding to pest problems with the most effective, least-risk option
Requires a thorough knowledge of biology of pest, natural enemies
and crops
True IPM probably practiced less than 10% of total crop area
Chemical control benefits and problems
Benefits
The economical benefits of chemical control of
pests is well established.
Malaria or Yellow fever, was eradicated from US
mainly due to chemical control of the Vector
Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae)
Problems
Evolution of resistance
Harm to nontargets
Pest resurgence
Secondary pest outbreak
Adverse environmental consequences
Classical Biocontrol mistakes and successes
Howarth, F.G. 1999. Environmental impacts of classical biological control. Annual Review of
Entomology 36: 485-509
Hawaii, native pentatomides dissapeared after the introduction of
the tachinid Trichopoda pilipes and the scelionid Trissolcus basalis
Fiji moth and the
introduction of Bessa remota
(Diptera:Tachinidae)
Classical Biocontrol mistakes and successes
Successes: Introduction of Australian Vedalia
beetle 1889
Hibiscus mealybug and introduced Predators/parasitoids in
Caribbean Countries.
Anagyrus kamali
Cryptolaemus montrouzeri
Costanza et al. 1997. Nature 387:253-260.
Minimum economic value of 17 ecosystem
services: $33 trillion per year
This is a serious underestimate of infinity
1/3 of human food is derived
from plants pollinated by wild
pollinators. In the U.S., the
agricultural value of wild, native
pollinators sustained by adjacent
natural habitats is billions of
dollars per year.
Attitudes towards invertebrates
•Aesthetic
•Dominionistic
•Ecologistic
•Humanistic
•Moralistic
•Naturalistic
•Negativistic
•Scientific
•Utilitarian
Kellert, S.R. 1993. Values and perceptions of
invertebrates. Conservation Biology 4:845-855.
EQUAL TIME – THE INSECT PERSPECTIVE
Positive effects of humans on insects
•Concentration of resources.
•New environments.
•Good host for parasites.
Negative effects of humans on insects
•Minor mortality
•Insecticides
•Introducing invasive species
•Habitat destruction
•Climate change
Insects and People
• Insects and People
“…the dung beetle is declared to be a heretic,
sullied by the stench of heresy, and the balls
of dung are explained as evil thoughts and
heresies.”
Views of ancient Christians (Morge 1973 – in
Bugs in the system, May R. Berenbaum)
Insect nuisance and phobia
Harmless insects and arachnids
sometimes arouse reactions such as
unwarrented phobic responses.
http://media.smilepop.com/smilepop/flash/10_2002/sept02-smilepop-bugseren2.swf
Entomophobia or delusory parasitosis
In a telephone survey of over 1,000
househoulds in Arizona, Byrne et al. (1984)
found that 37.6% of respondents “dislike”
arthropods encountered in their yards and a
whopping 83.5% “dislike” arthropods
encountered inside the home.
4 of 7 [harmless] arthropods earned scores
lower than the skunk.
Observations used to distinguish delusory
parasitosis.
Venoms
Phthiraptera
Siphonaptera
Diptera
Hemiptera
Insect products
Forensic entomology
Forensic entomology can be divided into three subfields:
Urban - pest infestations in buildings or gardens, litigation b/t private parties
and service providers
Stored-product - litigation over infestation or contamination of commercially
distributed foods by insects
Medico-legal/medico-criminal - murder, suicide, rape, physical abuse and
contraband trafficking
Forensic entomology – History
• Song Ci (also known as Sung Tz’u), was a lawyer and death investigator
who lived in China in the late 13th century - first recorded account in
history of someone using forensic entomology for judicial means
• Dr Louis François Etienne Bergeret (1814-1893) a French hospital
physician - First application forensic entomology in an estimation of
postmortem interval (PMI) (1855)
• Hermann Reinhard (1816 -1892) German Doctor - The first systematic
study in forensic entomology was conducted in 1881
•Jean Pierre Mégnin (1828 – 1905) Army veterinarian - worked on the
theory of predictable waves, or successions of insects onto corpses
Pollination by bees (Apidae) > $14 Billion /year
CA has >420k acres of Almonds requiring up to 1 million hives
2002 USA produced > $130 million of raw honey
Pollinate more than 16 percent of flowering plant species
(~40k sp)
Threats to bees include:
Varroa mites – suck hemolymph and transmit RNA viruses
Tracheal mites – clogs trachea
Small hive beetle (Nitidulidae) - damage to comb, stored
honey and pollen
American foulbrood – bacteria
Chalk brood – fungus
Pesticides
Africanized honey bee hybrid between
African Apis species (A. m. scutellata) and
Apis mellifera
Entomophagy
Species of Edible insects recorded worldwide
Lice
3
Dragonflies
20
Acrididae & Blattodea
239
Lepidoptera
235
Beetles
344
Hymenoptera
313
Total (plus not shown)
1,417
Creepy Crawly Cuisine
# Edible insects / continent & # of consumer countries
Continent
# sp recorded
%
Ento/country
%
Africa
527
36.04
36
31.86
America
573
39.14
23
20
Asia
249
17.03
29
25.6
Australia
86
5.88
14
12.39
Europe
27
1.86
11
9.73
Total
1,462*
100
113
100
* Species overlap > 1,417
FDA regulations – Americans eat arthropods!!
Defect action levels
APPLE BUTTER
Insects - Average of 5 or more whole or equivalent insects (not counting mites, aphids,
thrips, or scale insects) per 100 grams of apple butter
CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR
Insects - Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram
subsamples are examined OR Any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments
CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, CANNED
Insects and insect eggs - 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more
maggots per 250 ml
PEANUT BUTTER
Insects - Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams