Unit 5- Pests and Pollinators

Question 1

Pest:

Answer 1

Organism that damages crops that are valuable

Question 2

Weed:

Answer 2

Any plant that competes with crops

Question 3

Pesticides:

Answer 3

• Poisons that target pest organisms

Toxic effects may not be limited to the target organisms

Question 4

Biological Control:

Answer 4

• Method of combating pests and weeds with organisms that eat or infect them
• Involves introducing an animal or microbe into a foreign ecosystem, ensures that the target pest has not already evolved ways to deal with the biocontrol agent
Can become invasive and target non-target organisms

Question 5

Integrated Pest Management (IPM):

Answer 5

• Numerous techniques are integrated to achieve long term suppression of pests (biocontrol, chemical, habitat alteration..etc)
Very popular method word wide

Question 6

Conservation of Pollinators:

Answer 6

• Pollinators are at risk from habitat loss, land degradation, pesticide use…etc
  
  • Reducing pesticide use helps maintain populations of pollinating insects
  • Planting gardens of flowering plants, providing nesting sites for bees encourages population of pollinating insects
  • Allow flowering plants to grow around the edges of fields, farmers can maintain a diverse community of insects

Question 7

Crop Diversity:

Answer 7

• Preserving the integrity of native variants provides insurance against widespread commercial crop failure
• Crop varieties contain genes that provide resistance to disease, pests, inbreeding…etc
Primary cause of loss of crop diversity due to market discouraging diversity in the appearance of fruits and vegetables

Question 8

Seed Banks/Gene Banks:

Answer 8

• Collecting and storing seeds from crop varieties and periodically planting them protects crop diversity