Pests can be more than annoying. They can cause property damage and pose health problems. Rodents such as rats and mice chew electric wires, which can lead to fires, and they can spread diseases such as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Leptospirosis, Plague, and Salmonella. Contact South Shore IPM now!

Physical pest control includes:

• Picking and shaking plants.
• Using fly swatters and mouse traps.
• Clearing debris from the yard.

Chemical pest control includes the use of insecticides and other chemicals.

Whether they crawl, fly, squirm, or slither, insects are the most abundant animals on Earth. They form the biological foundation of terrestrial ecosystems, recycling nutrients, pollinating crops and flowers, and controlling pest populations. They are essential to the global food chain and biodiversity, and they support a wide range of other species, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and fish. However, by the end of this century up to 40% of insect species may disappear due to habitat loss, and their numbers are declining around the world.

Insects also directly impact human health. They transmit diseases to people and livestock, and they can disrupt food production by destroying cultivated plants and reducing animal forage. Traditionally, humans have managed these interactions through pesticides, but the rise of resistant organisms is changing the landscape.

While some insects cause problems for people and livestock, others perform critical ecological functions. For example, bees and other pollinators increase crop yields. Ground beetles reduce soil erosion and aerate the earth. Dung beetles recycle and bury animal waste, thereby lowering overall methane emissions from dairy and cattle farms. Insects play other vital roles in agriculture: They decompose organic matter, cycle nutrients and disperse seeds, and they control populations of pathogens, predators, parasitoids, disease vectors and competitors.

At Cornell AES professional greenhouses, staff have used biocontrols — encouraging one living thing to control another problematic living thing – for more than 20 years. The approach is a part of the integrated pest management system used to maintain a healthy and productive conservatory environment.

Biological control is the mass rearing and release of a pest’s natural enemies, such as predatory insects that feed on or parasitize the target insect. This is a relatively safe and environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides, which can have unintended consequences. It requires careful research to find suitable natural enemies, and a long process to prepare the enemy for release. It includes quarantine to eliminate harmful pathogens and to ensure the enemy doesn’t have negative impacts on native species that are not pests, or on other natural enemies of the pest. It also involves releasing the enemy at the proper time in both the pest and natural enemy life cycles.

Rodents

Rodents (rodentia) are a major cause of pest problems and nuisance in residential, commercial, agricultural, and wildland settings. They cost billions of dollars in lost crops, spoil food stored by humans, and carry disease-causing pathogens, including bubonic plague, typhus, and hanta fever. Accidentally introduced species like rats and mice also destroy native wildlife and have contributed to the extinction of island birds such as the dodo.

Rodents are omnivorous, but their diet usually includes fruits, seeds, and grain. They are opportunistic feeders and will invade any food sources they can access, including grain silos, kitchen garbage, dumpsters, and unprotected bird feed. They are prolific breeders and can quickly develop into a serious problem when not controlled.

The most important factor in controlling rodents is sanitation. This means storing foods in sealed containers, addressing spills and crumbs immediately, and regularly inspecting interior spaces for signs of rodent activity, including droppings, gnaw marks, grease and sebum marks on pathways used by rodents, and urine (using a black light). Regularly cleaning up droppings and removing bird feed will help reduce rodent populations as well.

When rodents do invade buildings, the most effective control measures include exclusion, physical/mechanical controls, and occupant education. Exclusion measures include removing accessible entrance points and sealing them with appropriate materials. Physical/mechanical controls include snap traps, glue boards, repeating catch-all devices, and live traps. These can be placed in non-visible, inaccessible locations such as behind sinks, custodial closets, or in garages. Carefully placing bait blocks or other nontoxic monitoring baits in tamper-resistant stations is also effective.

Rats are active at night and can be sighted from dusk to dawn. Mice typically nest in wall voids or in cardboard boxes, wooden or plastic pallets, heating units, and appliances. Inspect cluttered spaces for evidence of rodents, such as droppings or pilfered food, and check walls and ceilings for grease and gnaw marks. Place traps and bait stations in areas where rodents are most active at night, and along travel ways or near entry points. Reset and monitor traps and bait stations frequently. Place a sign explaining the purpose of the treatment to encourage occupant compliance.

Birds

Whether in tropical rainforests, or on Midwest farms, birds play an important role in controlling insect populations. Over the years, scientists have discovered that when bird populations decline, so do insect pests. Often, this is because of the presence of pesticides on or near crops and in surrounding habitat. These pesticides, called neonicotinoids (neonics), are extremely toxic and can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled, or ingested by birds. Neonics can also be dispersed by wind, spray drift, or dust particles, and they can leach into soil and waterways.

Birds have long been natural predators of insect pests and can help control them by consuming large numbers of them during an outbreak. Birds also recognize that many insect pests are infected with parasites, and they tend to prey only on healthy insects. By reducing the number of parasitized bugs in the population, they can significantly reduce bug outbreaks.

In addition to direct bird predation of insect pests, birds may also indirectly influence bug populations through bioaccumulation and shifts in diet. For example, when an outbreak of one type of insect occurs, such as a tree borers, some birds will alter their feeding patterns to consume only that species of insect. They can do this by changing their search image or location, which increases the efficiency with which they can find this new food source. As a result, the overall population of that species of insect will increase, as will the survival rate of its offspring.

Another way that birds aid in pest control is by distributing seeds, which allows plants to regrow and replace the ones that have been damaged or killed by insect pests. When bird populations decrease, this seed distribution function is lost, which can lead to decreased crop production.

In general, the value that birds provide for human beings in terms of ecosystem services is immeasurable. Taking steps to create and maintain bird habitat on farms can help reduce the need for chemical pesticides, which can damage crops and cause health problems in humans. For example, encouraging farmers to install bird boxes and providing hedgerows and woodlots in an agricultural landscape can attract and retain birds that will aid in pest control without the need for harmful chemicals.

Other Animals

Pest control programs at zoos may involve several steps, including prevention (keeping a pest from becoming a problem), suppression (reducing a population to an acceptable level), and eradication (destroying a pest). The Animal Welfare Act requires licensed animal facilities to have pest management programs. The goals of these programs are to provide an environment for the animals that is free of pests, and to cause as little harm as possible to the animals, property, and people.

A pest control program should include routine inspections of the zoo to identify potential problems and prevent them from occurring. Sanitation and food storage procedures are also important parts of any pest management plan. Zoos should have appropriate barriers (e.g., fencing, netting) to prevent access by some pests. In addition, zoos should encourage visitors to feed animals only from designated areas.

Other animals, such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, often kill or eat pests. Certain climate conditions also affect the behavior of pests and their hosts. Rain or freezing temperatures can kill or suppress plant-eating pests, and drought can limit a pest’s ability to reproduce.

Many natural enemies of pests, such as parasites, predators, pathogens, and fungi, also help control their populations. For example, aphids, one of the most difficult crop pests for growers to manage, are eaten by ladybugs. In turn, the ladybugs lay hundreds of eggs that eat even more aphids.

The natural enemy’s role in controlling a pest depends on its food supply, its shelter, and the availability of its young. A natural enemy’s presence in an area is also affected by its weather and the availability of water, shelter, and overwintering sites. Natural features such as mountains and large bodies of water can restrict pests by limiting their roosts, habitats, and food sources. Some natural enemies need to be reintroduced into the target area on a regular basis to maintain their effectiveness. This is especially true for some fungi and pathogens, which require an initial introduction to begin their control of a pest. In general, the use of natural enemies is a more environmentally friendly strategy than chemical controls.