Pesticide induced resurgence, often shortened to resurgence in pest management contexts, can be described as a constraint of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

use, by which they fail to control

pests PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...

such as insects and

spider mite Spider mites are members of the family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They are part of the subclass Acari (mites). Spider mites generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, a ...

s: instead ‘flaring up’ populations that may have been of minor importance. Although there are more than one mechanisms by which this takes place, mortality of natural enemies following the use of broad-spectrum

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

s and

acaricide Acaricides are pesticides that kill members of the arachnid subclass '' Acari'', which includes ticks and mites. Acaricides are used both in medicine and agriculture, although the desired selective toxicity differs between the two fields. Termi ...

s is often implicated. This is sometimes called the “pesticide treadmill”: a term coined by Robert van den Bosch to describe a self-reinforcing over-dependence on agrochemicals and inimical to natural

biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or o ...

s. Notable examples include the flare-up of rice

brown planthopper The brown planthopper (BPH), ''Nilaparvata lugens'' (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is a planthopper species that feeds on rice plants (''Oryza sativa'' L.). These insects are among the most important pests of rice, which is the major staple cro ...

populations, following over-use of broad-spectrum inscticides.

Causes and mitigation

With an increasing population, world food production has been subject to intensification and since the 1950s, the use of chemical

s. Examples are included below, but because of its importance to rice, outbreaks of the

were intensively studied. The differential mortality of the pests and their natural enemies (spiders,

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

s, predatory bugs, ''etc.'') was a major factor causing outbreaks. However, there were other resurgence factors such as increased pest fecundity due to increased protein content of the rice

phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is ...

, on which the insects feed. Sustainable intensification encompasses

Integrated pest management Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization defines IPM as "the careful consideratio ...

(IPM) practices, which are widely recognised as an appropriate strategy for, not only reducing financial costs to farmers and growers, but also managing technical constraints associated with

pesticide resistance Pesticide resistance describes the decreased susceptibility of a pest population to a pesticide that was previously effective at controlling the pest. Pest species evolve pesticide resistance via natural selection: the most resistant specimens su ...

, resurgence and the risks of high crop residues. An obvious solution is to reduce or eliminate pesticide use, but where pest pressure is high (''e.g.'' with many tropical crops), this is not always feasible: but various measures can be taken, including better timing, application and the use of less deleterious products such as biopesticides.Bateman RP (2003) Rational Pesticide Use: spatially and temporally targeted application of specific products. In: ''Optimising Pesticide Use'' Ed. M. Wilson, Publ. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK; pp. 129-157.

Examples

;Cottony cushion scale ''

Icerya purchasi ''Icerya purchasi'' (common name: cottony cushion scale) is a scale insect that feeds on more than 80 families of woody plants, most notably on ''Citrus'' and ''Pittosporum''. Originally described in 1878 from specimens collected in New Zealand a ...

'' Management of ''Icerya purchasi'' populations is a well-known early success for classical

, after introduction of the '' vedalia ladybird'' in the late 19th century. However, crop spraying with

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

and

organophosphate In organic chemistry, organophosphates (also known as phosphate esters, or OPEs) are a class of organophosphorus compounds with the general structure , a central phosphate molecule with alkyl or aromatic substituents. They can be considered ...

insecticides in the 1950s, resulted in high vedalia mortality and cottony cushion scale resurgence; this was especially caused by drift of

malathion Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide which acts as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. In the USSR, it was known as carbophos, in New Zealand and Australia as maldison and in South Africa as mercaptothion. The compound's name is presumably ...

or DDT applied by airplane during the early spring months. ;

Spider mite Spider mites are members of the family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They are part of the subclass Acari (mites). Spider mites generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, a ...

s First generation insecticides such as DDT were often replaced by synthetic pyrethroids for agricultural and horticultural use by the end of the 1970s, due to their relatively low persistence and mammalian toxicity. However, their broad spectrum of activity varies for both spider mite control, and their ability to invoke resurgences of different spider mite species on various plants. Pesticides may be both lethal and repellent to Phytoseiids and other spider mite predators. After synthetic pyrethroids applications, spider mite development is shortened, the sex ratio can becomes more biased towards females and onset of winter diapause is possibly delayed.Gerson U, Cohen E (1989) Resurgences of spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) induced by synthetic pyrethroids. ''Experimental and Applied Acarology'' 6: 29–46.

References

{{Authority control Biological pest control Agroecology Agronomy Pesticides Sustainable agriculture