The Safe and Effective Use of Pesticides (2016 Edition). Flashcards
Define Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Ch1
Integrated pest management (IPM) is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.
Differentiate among key pests, occasional pests, and secondary pests.
CH1
Key pests are those that cause major damage on a regular basis unless you successfully manage them. Many weeds are key pests
Occasional pests are those that become pests once in a while due to their life cycles, environmental conditions at the site, or as a result of human activity.
Secondary pests are not normally problems but become problems after a key pest is controlled.
Define prevention, suppression, and eradication of pests.
CH1
When you prevent pest populations from invading and populating an area, you stop them before they damage plants or reach treatment thresholds.
Common pest control methods suppress pest populations but usually do not eliminate them. These methods reduce pest numbers below an economic injury threshold or to a tolerable level.
Eradication is the total elimination of a pest from a designated area.
Describe the methods used to achieve prevention, suppression, and eradication of pests.
CH1
Prevention:
techniques include planting weed- and disease-free seeds and growing varieties of plants that resist diseases or insects. Fencing can be used to prevent damage from vertebrate pests such as rabbits.
Suppression:
the goal of most pesticide applications used to manage weeds, insects and mites, and microorganisms. Examples of suppression techniques include cultivating or mowing weeds and releasing biological control agents.
eradication:
programs are conducted using quarantine orders that refer to particular foreign or introduced pests proven to severely damage the local environment. Certain pests of commodities shipped from one state to another or shipped outside the United States may have to be eradicated before these commodities are allowed into the state or country.
Define economic injury/treatment thresholds and describe what happens when these are reached.
CH1
economic damage. Damage caused by pests to plants, animals, or other items that results in loss of income or a reduction of value.
economic injury threshold. The point at which the value of the damage caused by a pest exceeds the cost of controlling the pest, therefore making it practical to use a control method.
Describe monitoring and explain why it is important.
CH1
monitoring. The process of carefully watching the activities, growth, and development of pest organ- isms over a period of time, often utilizing very spe cific procedures.
Identify the five major components common to all IPM programs.
CH1
- Identifying pests (see Chapter 2)
- Monitoring and assessing pest numbers, damage, and favorable field conditions (see Chapter 10)
- Using economic injury or treatment thresholds to determine when management ac
tion is needed
- Preventing pest problems
- Combining biological, cultural, physical/mechanical, and chemical management tools as needed (see the UC IPM website, ucipm.ucanr.edu)
Describe IPM methods.
CH1
⚫ Biological control is the use of living biological control agents or natural enemies-predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors-to control pests and their damage. Invertebrates, plant pathogens, nematodes, weeds, and vertebrates have many natural enemies.
⚫ Chemical control is the use of naturally occurring or synthetic pesticides. In IPM, pesticides are used only when needed and in combination with other approaches for more effective,a long-term control. Also, pesticides are selected and applied in a way that minimizes their possible harm to people and the environment. With IPM you’ll use the most selective pesticide that will do the job and is the safest for other organisms and for air, soil, and water quality, for example, using a pesticide in a bait station rather than a spray or spot-spraying a few weeds instead of an entire area.
Mechanical and physical controls kill a pest directly or make the environment unsuitable for it. Traps for rodents are examples of mechanical controls. Physical controls include mowing for weed management, steam sterilization of the soil for disease management, and using barriers such as screens to keep birds or insects out.
⚫ Cultural controls are practices that reduce pest establishment, reproduction, dispersal, and survival. For example, changing irrigation practices can reduce pest problems, since too much water can increase root disease and weeds, and crop rotation can be used to reduce nematode populations (see Flint 2012).
Explain the importance of site-specific variables; pest, host, and natural enemy populations; and
pest life stage in pest management planning.
CH1
Explain the importance of evaluating pest management results.
CH1
Monitor after every treatment to learn whether the control activity was successful. If a pesticide application is determined to be unsuccessful, regular follow-up monitoring and recordkeeping allow you to assess the problem(s), and institute corrective measures or change faulty procedures for the next application.
Explain why understanding pest biology is important when managing pests.
CH2
Before trying to control a pest, you must identify it and understand its biology. Once you have identified the pest and its damage, become familiar with its life cycle, growth, and reproductive habits, as well as the life cycle and growth of the host plant or crop. Then, use this information to form your pest control plans.
Making poor choices based on poor information is the most frequent cause of pest control failure.
Explain why identifying pests correctly is important.
CH2
Be certain any injury or observed damage is actually due to the identified pest and cannot be attributed to some other cause. Once you have identified the pest and its damage, become familiar with its life cycle, growth, and reproductive habits, as well as the life cycle and growth of the host plant or crop. Then, use this information to form your pest control plans.
List the main groups of common pests.
CH2
The four main groups of pests include
⚫ weeds (undesired plants)
⚫ invertebrates (insects, mites, and their relatives; nematodes and worms; and snails and slugs)
⚫ vertebrates (birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and mammals)
⚫ disease agents (bacteria, viruses and viroids, fungi, phytoplasmas and other microorganisms, and abiotic factors)
Explain how pests are organized and identified using scientific names.
CH2
There are six subcategories within a kingdom in the standardized classification system phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Unique physical characteristics set some organisms apart from others.
in the phylum Arthropoda all organisms have jointed appendages and external skeletons; animals in the phylum Chordata have backbones, spinal nerve cords, and internal skeletons. Within a phylum there are several orders, each containing one or more families. A family is a group of related genera (the plural of genus), and a genus is a a collection of species. A species is unique from all other organisms. The genus and species names make up an organism’s scientific name.
List and describe the types of resources and references available for identifying pests, symptoms
of infestation, and damage caused by pests.
CH2
You can identify pests by using the guidelines included in this chapter and consulting identification books or the University of California’s online resources. Or, have the pest examined and identified by specialists.
Birds and rodents build nests that are often characteristic to each species. Rodents and other mammals dig unique burrows in the ground and often leave identifying gnaw marks on tree trunks or other objects .Rodent fecal pellets and insect frass are also distinctive and important identification aids. Weeds may have unique flowers, seeds, fruits, or unusual growth habits. Also look for remains of weed plants from the previous season. Fungi and other pathogens sometimes cause specific types of damage, deformation, or color changes to host tissues.
Distinguish between damage caused by pathogens and abiotic factors.
CH2
Plant and animal diseases can be caused by nonliving (abiotic) factors and living (biotic) pathogenica microorganisms. Biotic and abiotic factors alter or interfere with the chemical processes that take place within an organism’s cells. This interference produces disease symptoms or disorders.
Biotic disease causing agents, or pathogens, are capable of spreading from one host to another and producing disease symptoms.
Abiotic disorders are noninfectious diseases induced by adverse environmental conditions, often as a result of human activity. These include nutrient deficien cies or excesses; low or high temperatures; toxic levels of salt, herbicides, or other pesticides; air pol lution; and too little or too much water
List examples of common pests in California from each main group, and describe the damage
they cause.
CH2
Define a pesticide.
CH3
Explain the concepts of hazard, exposure, and toxicity and how they relate to one another.
CH3
List pesticide toxicity categories and signal words, and explain what each category means in terms
of a pesticide’s effects on humans and animals.
CH3
List groups of pesticides according to pest target and describe the functions of each group.
CH3
List major chemical families and describe the particular hazards associated with each one.
CH3
Define mode of action and provide examples of the different modes.
CH3
Explain how contact and systemic pesticides control pests differently.
CH3
Explain how various modes of action influence pesticide selection.
CH3
Define a pesticide formulation.
CH3
List the various formulations available and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
CH3
Identify factors that should be considered when selecting pesticides.
CH3
Explain the role of adjuvants in pesticide applications.
CH3
Explain the potential environmental hazards associated with pesticides.
CH4
Describe pesticide chemical and physical characteristics and how these characteristics indicate
the potential for pesticides to move offsite.
CH4
List the types of offsite movement of pesticides.
CH4
Describe factors that influence offsite movement of pesticides.
CH4
Distinguish between point-sources and non-point-sources of environmental contamination
by pesticides.
CH4
Define pesticide residue, identify conditions that affect the buildup of residue, and explain how
to avoid creating hazardous residues.
CH4
List features of a given site, including soil type and geology, which influence the potential
for a pesticide to reach surface or groundwater.
CH4
Describe ways that pesticides can impact non-target organisms.
CH4
Describe the ways people get exposed to pesticides and the routes of entry.
Ch5
Describe how offsite movement of pesticides endangers human health.
CH5
Name conditions at the application site that may change and influence the hazards associated
with pesticide application.
Ch5
List the tasks most often associated with accidental pesticide exposure and explain why these
tasks are hazardous.
CH5
Explain how each of the following can contribute to human hazards associated with pesticide use:
a. incorrect dosage
b. incorrect application timing
c. incorrect pesticide product application
CH5
Explain the human hazards associated with pesticides.
CH5
Describe the potential effects of acute and chronic pesticide exposure on people.
CH5
Define heat stress and describe how people develop heat stress.
CH5
Explain how PPE and engineering controls can protect a person from hazards associated
with pesticides.
CH6
Describe safety training provided to field workers and pesticide handlers
CH6
Describe the employer’s responsibility to provide PPE for mixing, loading, applying, and
storing pesticides to employees.
CH6
List various PPE and engineering controls that pesticide handlers use to protect themselves
from pesticide exposure
CH6
Explain how to select the most effective PPE for the job.
CH6
Describe how to wear, clean, maintain and store reusable PPE, and how to dispose of worn
or single-use person protective equipment
CH6
