Pests

Pests are organisms that are considered detrimental to human interests, including agriculture, health, stored products, and property. The label “pest” is contextual, depending on the environment and goals; many organisms can be pests under certain conditions but harmless elsewhere. The term covers a wide range of life-forms, including insects, mites, nematodes, weeds, fungi, bacteria, viruses, rodents, birds, and other vertebrates.

In agriculture, pests cause yield losses and quality reductions by feeding on crops, competing with crops, or transmitting diseases. In urban and domestic settings, pests such as cockroaches, rodents, termites, and some birds damage structures and contaminate food. Pathogens and pests also act as vectors for human and animal diseases.

Management typically uses an integrated pest management approach: monitoring pest populations, establishing action thresholds, and employing a combination of preventive cultural practices (crop rotation, sanitation), physical and mechanical controls, biological control using predators, parasites, or pathogens, and chemical pesticides as a last resort with attention to resistance management and non-target effects.

Pests are dynamic; their status is influenced by climate, landscape, and human activity. Ecologically, they can be part of food webs, and some organisms shift between pest and beneficial roles. Effective pest management aims to minimize harm while reducing environmental impact.