Preventive insecticide use affects arthropod decomposers and decomposition in field crops

Arthropod pest management in organic crops.

Burgeoning consumer interest in organically produced foods has made organic farming one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture. This growth has not been supported adequately by rigorous research to address challenges such as arthropod pest management. The research that has been conducted, however, is complemented by research in aspects of conventional agriculture that may have applicabi...

TRANSGENIC PLANTS AND INSECTS Field Studies Assessing Arthropod Nontarget Effects in Bt Transgenic Crops: Introduction

Assessment of insecticide resistance in five insect pests attacking field and vegetable crops in Nicaragua.

Field populations of Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari), Plutella xylostella (L.), Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) and Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) were tested for resistance to several insecticides commonly used in Nicariagua. Assays were conducted to estimate the LD50s or LC50s and the corresponding resistance ratios. A diagnostic concentration was used to discriminate between s...

Litter type affects the activity of aerobic decomposers

P. Straková, R. M. Niemi, C. Freeman, K. Peltoniemi, H. Toberman, I. Heiskanen, H. Fritze, and R. Laiho Peatland Ecology Group, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, 01301 Vantaa, Finland Finnish Environment Institute, P.O. Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland Wo...

Insecticide resistance in soil arthropod pests: Status and mechanism

Soil arthropod pests are those which live in the soil and cause economic loss to humans. Root maggots, wireworms, whitegrubs, termites and ants are important soil pests. Insecticides are used for the management of these pests and the buffering capacity of soil makes difficult for these pests to be managed and warrants high concentration of pesticides with repeated applications. This increases t...