Pesticide Notes Flashcards

Pest: Any organism that is destructive or annoying (mostly weeds and insects).
- Example: Mosquitoes carry malaria.
Pesticide: Any chemical used to kill pests.
- Example: Insecticide - kills insects, Herbicide - kills plants.
Pest Management: Ways to control pests.

1800s: Early pesticides used natural minerals.
- Examples: sulfur, arsenic, copper, lead, and mercury.
World War II: Man-made chemicals called chlorinated hydrocarbons were developed to create nerve gas.
- These chemicals were tested on insects and found to be effective and cheap to produce.
- They were vastly used for agriculture.
  - Example: DDT

Growing monocultures attract many insect pests of that plant. Pesticides were therefore used more often.
Pesticides kill most things, including helpful organisms.
- Only 1 out of every 8 insect species are pests.
Many pesticides persist in the environment (don't decompose).
- They stay in the soil or runoff into water.
Over time, insects become resistant to pesticides.
- Insects survive and pass that trait to the next generation, requiring more pesticide use.