Emma-pesticides

1. A pest is a plant, animal, or microorganism that has a negative effect on humans. A pesticide is a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals. A biological pesticide is something already known to the environment that comes naturally, such as a ladybug eating harmful insects. A chemical pesticide is made in the lab or naturally but has chemicals in it.

2. Cons of using pesticides: The number one con is that they are bad for the environment and your health. Secondly you will have to identify the pest, which may be tricky, they don't work on every pest. Sometimes the pests develop their bodies to become immune to the pesticide. When those pests have offspring, the offspring often have immunities to the pesticides. Sometimes when you spray a pesticide the pests evade it, but it does kill their natural predators. When you kill the natural predators, the pest population can grow uncontrollably. Pros of using pesticides: The number one pro is that you may end up killing most of your pests. Pesticides have made it possible to replace natural ecosystems with farmland, lawns, golfcourses, etc. It has enabled farmers to produce larger quantities of crop. It has also helped them reduce the incidence of insect-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever. They have become very convenient weapons to fight pests.

3. Three environmentally safe methods of controlling pests include natural predators, autocidal control, and integrated pest management. Natural predator pest control involves introducing a new natural predator of the pest to the environment to kill them and keep the population down. An example may be introducing a ladybug to a garden to eat off harmful larvae that kill plants and may be poisonous to other insects. Autocidal control involves sterilizing males and introducing them to the infested area.They mate with the females but no offspring is produced because the males are infertile. An example may be introducing a sterilized male fly to a population of females, generally using a huge amount of males is ideal. Integrated pest management involves using all three types of pest control at once. The more controls you use the less likely you are to rid of the pests. It includes an initial pesticide usage, trapping with chemical lures and periodic release of many sterilized males.