The improvement and application of pest and disease models to analyse and predict yield losses including those due to climate change is still a challenge for the scientific community. Applied modelling of crop diseases and pests has mostly targeted the development of support capabilities to schedule scouting or pesticide applications. There is a need for research to both broaden the scope and e...

Piper methysticum, a tropical, forest-dwelling shrub, called ‘awa (ah-vuh) in Hawaiian and also known as kava, is the source of a relaxing root extract esteemed as a ceremonial beverage throughout the Pacific region. It has traditionally been grown in relatively pristine native forest ecosystems by indigenous horticulturists who made extensive varietal selections and recognized the optimal envi...

While insecticides have greatly improved human health and agricultural production worldwide, their utility has been limited by the evolution of resistance in many major pests, including some that became pests only as a result of insecticide use. Insecticide resistance is both an interesting example of the adaptability of insect pests, and, in the design of resistance management programmes, a us...

Mangel, M. and Plant, R.E., 1983. Multiseasonal management of an agricultural pest. I: Development of the theory. Ecol. Modelling, 20: 1-19. A framework for analyzing the trade-off between economic yield from a crop and buildup of resistance to pesticide caused by repeated applications of pesticide is developed. The analysis begins with the case of age-independent pest dynamics, in which pests ...

Aphids are important pests of crop plants in Europe. Increasing resistance of aphids to insecticides and their side effects on the environment and non target organism's including human's stimulated research on alterative methods of aphid control, including the use of entomotoxic proteins. Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins that are widely distributed in nature; they have been isolated fr...