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Title: RESISTANCE TO PESTICIDES

Author
item Castle, Steven

Submitted to: Encyclopedia of Pest Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2002
Publication Date: 11/2/2002
Citation: CASTLE, S.J. RESISTANCE TO PESTICIDES. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PEST MANAGEMENT. 2002. pp. 715-717.

Interpretive Summary: Resistance to pesticides is one of the foremost concerns to the sustainability of modern agriculture. The proliferation of organisms resistant to one or more pesticides has had a serious impact on agricultural productivity worldwide. This paper focuses primarily on insects to explore the consequences of resistance to agriculture and how the number of resistant species has increased rapidly from the 1950s to the present time. It also examines our increased dependency on pesticides to combat insects and other arthropods, weeds, and fungi. Our knowledge of how resistance occurs has improved, as has our ability to combat resistance by implementing measures that help reduce the risks of resistance development. The prognosis for dealing with resistance now and in the future has therefore greatly improved.

Technical Abstract: The occurrence of pesticide resistance stands as one of the most chronic and formidable problems for crop production and public health worldwide. The evolution of different resistance mechanisms by pestiferous organisms has diminished the lethal action of pesticides and led to greater difficulties in controlling pest populations. Resistance as a chronic problem is a result of its occurrence in an increasing number of species, but also its recurrence in resistant pest species that evolve more than one resistance mechanism or employ existing ones to counter novel pesticides. As a formidable problem in pest management, resistance often diminishes control of pest populations and contributes to a pesticide treadmill, i.e. more applications to control a resistant pest leading to more intractable resistance leading to more pesticide applications. Greater awareness of the conditions that produce resistant pest populations combined with counter-resistance tactics have begun to improve the outlook for managing and curtailing resistance.