understand the reasons for pest control and the advantages and disadvantages of using pesticides and biological control with crop plants
Monoculture:
- Large fields with the same type of crops
- Susceptible to pests (variety of living things)--> reduces productivity of farming--> loss of food and financial impact on farmer
- Pesticides- Chemical and are designed to kill a pest
- Advantages:
- Chemicals --> Easy to obtain
- Easy to apply
- Very effective
- Disadvantages:
- Very toxic- harmful to humans
- Bio accumulation
- Mutation in the pest leads to resistance
- Pesticides may not work/ may need to be applied in a higher concentration
Biological Control:
- Cactus flourished in Australia but there were no natural predators of it
- It needed to be removed as it was taking up agricultural land
- Moth (Cactoblastis) was introduced from another country (Alien species)
- Advantages:
- No toxic chemicals involved
- Less impact on humans and wildlife
- Disadvantages:
- Not 100% effective
- Difficult to control
- A danger that an alternative food source might be found for the alien species
- Sometimes difficult to match a predator to the prey
No comments:
Post a Comment