Principles of Pest Management Research Paper

Outline:

Introduction
Environmental effects

Terrestrial Life
Aquatic Life
Soil

Recommendations: Integrated Agriculture
Conclusion

Introduction

Pesticides are chemical or biological substances that are utilized by man to alleviate pests and other organisms that have adverse consequence on food production or towards human wellbeing. Pesticides functions by having a physiological impact on the pest’s body by disrupting its normal processes (Kuhr & Naoki 295). The use of chemicals to manage pests which damage crops, are a nuisance to man or that act as disease vectors of man and animals has increased with the advancement in scientific technology. Initially, cultural methods were applied to control pests but at around 1940 organophosphorous and organochlorine were used to develop chemicals that were based on synthetic hormones. They were adopted and widely used to control pests which facilitated the growth of the agrochemical industry. However, these chemicals caused a good percent of fish mortalities in the world. Today, the market is flooded with over 1600 pesticides which are being used for various purposes. Globally, close to 4.4 million tons of these chemicals are utilized by man, which adds up to more than twenty billion dollars. There U.S is the main supplier producing twenty seven percent of the circulating pesticides while exporting and importing close to 450 and 150 million pounds respectively (Edwards 13). The continued use of pesticides is facilitated by their efficiency in managing arthropods, weeds, and pathogens. However, what are the environmental, ecological and health hazards that are associated with the use of pesticides? This paper shall explore the role that pesticides play in the environment, their effects as well as the recommendations.

Environmental effects

Terrestrial Life

The agrochemical industry has aided humans to modify the environment through continues use of pesticides which alter nature. The potential to modify the environment has resulted to various issues that are controversial to the public. Nevertheless these issues cannot be fully resolved if the public is not fully aware of the hazards that they are confronted with through the persistence of pesticides in the environment which contaminates water, air and soil and in turn interfere with biodiversity. These chemicals are transferred to the environment through wind, residues, bioaccumulation and surface runoff. Pesticides could be lethal to humans causing birth defects, cancer, organ damage and neurological damages due to neurotoxins. Estrogenic pesticides for instance DDT have a deleterious repercussions on the reproductive health (Carlile 222). Adequate knowledge of biological hazards on human health as well as the environment is necessitated through understanding of the ecology, biology and biochemistry of organisms in relation to their environment as affected by the pesticides effect. Introducing new pesticides is supposed to be a scientific project that is fully researched and should be continuously followed up to make the necessary adjustments that ought to be made for the sake of safeguarding the environment.

Pesticides applied to improve agricultural produce may be hazardous not only to the natural environment but also to man’s health. Moreover, pesticides are detrimental to the environment since they indirectly kill organisms through disrupting their populations. For instance, endocrine disruptors physiologically and biochemically alter the embryo as they are incorporated in hormones (Wheeler 118). Even low concentrations are capable of causing species variations to ones that cannot resist diseases, damaging the sexual anatomy or even inability to search for food. Plants proliferation is also damaged and as a result, pollinators decline, which is transmitted to the entire food chain and hence destroying the ecosystem. In some cases has aided in global warming through depleting the ozone layer. Pesticides may also cause secondary poisoning in that they may be consumed by insects, accumulate in their tissue and eventually these insects are consumed by predictors such as birds. These concentrations sometimes are lethal to secondary organisms due to bioaccumulation which affects the food chain

Aquatic Life

A variety of pesticides used for agriculture have been attributed to be hazardous to marine life. This is when they drain into rivers as a runoff is and taken to lakes and oceans to biologically influence the aquatic species. It is therefore essential to control it is therefore essential to control hasty dumping of excess chemicals and spillages since they drain into water bodies causing death of marine flora and fauna. Persistent chemical may take long to disappear and their effects are therefore prolonged. Fresh water contamination with pesticides can be established through conducting a chemical analysis that may determine the presence of organophosphorous and organochlorine chemicals.

Toxic tests can evaluate the expected danger to aquatic organisms but this analysis should also encompass research on vulnerable aquatic species. Laboratory analysis reveals the extent of environmental hazards that have resulted from use of pesticides through analyzing the toxic content. Therefore, it is recommended to use pesticides that are extensively screened to curb their continual detrimental effects to the environment. As a result, integrated agriculture is opted since it aims at minimizing the hazardous effects caused buy pesticides and aims at safeguarding the environment. However, for integrated agriculture to be efficient there is a need for farmers to be sensitized on the harmful effects that use of pesticide has to the environment. Their impacts are nonetheless dependent on their toxicological qualities as well as their dispersion and could be evaluated through application of simulation models (Wheeler 120).

Soil

In the soil, pesticides may persist and cause harmful effects. Fungicides, insecticides and herbicides mostly contact the soil through runoffs or direct use. Unintended effects may be dependent of chemical characteristics of the pesticide, its solubility, adsorption degradation and vapor pressure depending on soil texture, Water retention, and organic matter. As a result, they end up in the soil but their effects have for a long time been ignored. However these pesticides once they contact with the soil may be degraded or altered chemically through the microorganisms that exist in the soil. In other instances, it persist causing lethal effects on the microbial element’s that are vital in enhancing a balance of nature. The moment a pesticide is dispersed to the environment through spillage, discarding or application, it is subjected to many biochemical processes that establish their persistence and their eventual fate. The fate may be important in that they may reach the target or may be degraded to leave no residues. In other cases they may be fatal to cruci.al organisms and may even fail to accomplish the targeted task of eliminating a certain pest. It is therefore important for farmers to be aware of the fate of a given pesticide after it has been used in to ensure that it is efficient and most importantly, environmentally friendly.

Fate processes includes Estrogenic pesticides for instance DDT have a deleterious repercussions on the reproductive health (Carlile 222).

Fate processes includes adsorption followed by transfer and eventual degradation. Adsorption process entails incorporation of the pesticides to the soil particles through attraction. Adsorption is influenced by the organic matter in the soil, soil type and moisture content. For instance, clay adsorbs more than sand and dry soil adsorbs more than the wet one since it has more binding sites. On the other hand, pesticides differed in adsorption where some binds strongly e.g. glyphosate while others bind weakly hence easily detached (Pimentel & Lehman 17). Adsorption reduce efficiency of a pesticide in managing pest for instance, if its binds strongly. Its unable to target the pests or weed hence a need to be applies regularly. Moreover adsorption leads to plant damage especially in rotational farming where a pesticide persists due to unwanted residues. Pesticide transfer in pest control is efficient for it transverse the soil to the seeds. However, great transfer rate may divert the pesticide off target resulting to hazards for non-target organisms such as earthworms, inefficiency and polluting ground water as well as the water bodies or harming non-target organisms. Degradation of pesticide is crucial since they are retendered nontoxic when dispersed into the environment. If degradation is fast, a pesticide may be inefficient in before it eliminates the pest. Degradation is facilitated through chemical, microbial or use of light. Therefore, a study through the soil including its microbial composition is necessary.

Recommendations: Integrated Agriculture

Application of pesticides should be selective and integrated with other ways of controlling pests. Use of pesticides should only occur when there is a need to do so, should be used in minimal content to manage selected pests to safeguard the environment and also save economically. When applying pesticides it is recommend to consider vulnerability of soil to leaching, positioning of ground water, making accurate pesticide concentrations through right calibrations, proper storage and disposal, and avoiding application on rainy days. Other methods that can be integrated in pest control include biological pest control such as pheromones and those based on viruses and bacteria. Genetic engineering and modern practices of cultivation should be considered such as polyculture, crop rotation, proper timing, and trap crops which draw pests from the actual crops through push pull strategy. Other organism could also be used to brawl pests such as natural predators and parasites. It is also recommended to sterilize males to mate with females without reproducing. Soil steaming also essential in killing pests and at the same time, acquire productive soil (Pingali 3).

Conclusion

Pesticides reduce biodiversity and species variations when organism dies in an ecosystem. They directly cause death of species which are targeted as well as non-target ones such as fish and birds and pollinators. In addition, they cause bioaccumulation of toxins which are transferred across the food chain. These environmental concerns especially involving non-target species and pesticide drift have raised a global concern ion efforts to safeguard the environment (Carlile 216). New pesticides are always emerging in the market due to development of resistance while in other cases the pesticide is used in large quantities so as to become effective and oppose resistance which further cause environmental hazards. As a result, they lead to acute and delayed hazards to human health. Therefore, integrated pest management is the way to go to control pests and at the same time, safeguard the environment. Moreover, use of Genetic engineering in agriculture would aid in developing crops that are resistant to pests and diseases and therefore, neglect the use of pesticides that are an environmental menace. Environmental agencies have a role to ensure that that the risks are eliminated by examining pesticide toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial life and its eventual fate.

Works Cited:

Carlile, W. R. Pesticide Selectivity, Health and the Environment. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. Print.

Edwards, Clive .The Pesticide Question: The Impact of Pesticides on the Environment. Springerlink, 1, 13-46. 1993. <http://www.springerlink.com/content/q30ttn22p1523008/>

Kuhr, Ronald and Naoki, Motoyama. Pesticides and the Future: Minimizing Chronic Exposure of Humans and the Environment. Netherlands: IOS Press. 1998. Print.

Pimentel, David and Lehman, Hugh. The Pesticide Question: Environment, Economics, and Ethics. New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc. 1993. Print.

Pingali, Prabhu. Impact of Pesticides on Farmer Health and the Rice Environment. Manila: International Rice Research Institute. 1995. Print.

Wheeler, Willis. Pesticides in Agriculture and the Environment. CRC Press. 2002. Print.

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