IPM: The Forest Context

Abstract

Integrated pest management (IPM) is perhaps best described as “…the maintenance of destructive agents, including insects, at tolerable levels by the planned use of a variety of preventative, suppressive or regulatory tactics that are ecologically and economically efficient and socially acceptable. It is implicit that the actions taken are fully integrated into the total resource management process in both planning and operation” (Waters 1974). Another useful definition of IPM is “an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. Pesticides are used only after monitoring indicates they are needed according to established guidelines, and treatments are made with the goal of removing only the target organism. Pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, beneficial and non-target organisms, and the environment” (University of California, Davis 2015). The spatial and temporal scale of forests demands landscape-level and long-term planning with an emphasis on preventive measures, e.g. silviculture. IPM programs in forests have historically been concerned mainly with pests that have large impacts on fibre and wood supply and the livelihood of resource-dependent communities, e.g. the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana(Clemens), and mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosaeHopkins, in North America. However, in Europe and more recently in North America, there has been a shift away from a focus on individual pests and towards IPM as part of ecosystem management (Häusler and Scherer-Lorenzen 2001; Alfaro and Langor 2016). Ideally, IPM should be an integral part of sustainable forest management, which in addition to sustained forest productivity, includes principles such as maintenance of biodiversity and ecological processes, carbon sequestration, and protection of soil and water quality (Holvoet and Muys 2004).

Citation

Sweeney, Jon; Dodds, Kevin J.; Fettig, Christopher J.; Carnegie,Angus J. 2023. IPM: The Forest Context. In: Allison, Jeremy D.; Paine, Timothy D.; Slippers, Bernard; Wingfield, Michael J., eds. Forest Entomology and Pathology. Springer, Cham: 581-646. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11553-0_17.