6.1.3

Intensive Farming - Pest Control

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Pest control

Pests can significantly reduce crop yield. They can eat vital parts of plants, compete with plants for resources or spread disease to a crop. Farmers can use methods to reduce the impact of pests on yield.

Pesticides

Pesticides

  • Pesticides are chemicals that can be sprayed onto crops to kill insect pests.
  • However these chemicals often contain heavy metals that build-up in food chains. They often reach the top apex predators at deadly levels.
Biological control

Biological control

  • Biological control is an alternative method to using pesticides to reduce the impact of pests on crop yield.
    • A species that is a predator of the pest is introduced.
    • For example, ladybirds are sometimes introduced by farmers into fields or glasshouses to prey on whitefly pests.
    • Biological control must be monitored very closely, because introducing a species into a non-native habitat risks it becoming an invasive species.
Jump to other topics
1

The Nature & Variety of Living Organisms

2

Structure & Functions in Living Organisms

3

Organism Functions

3.1

Respiration

3.2

Gas Exchange

3.3

Transport

3.4

Excretion

3.5

Coordination & Response

4

Reproduction & Inheritance

5

Ecology

6

Biological Resources

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