Pest (organism)

A pest is an organism which is detrimental to humans or human concerns.^[1] This is often because it causes damage to agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, or boll weevil on cotton. An animal can also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries germs within human habitats. Examples of these include those organisms which vector human disease, such as rats and fleas which carry the plague disease, mosquitoes which vector malaria, and ticks which carry Lyme disease.

The term pest may be used to refer specifically to harmful animals but is also often taken to mean all harmful organisms including weeds, plant pathogenic fungi and viruses. Pesticides are chemicals and other agents (e.g. beneficial micro-organisms) that are used to control or protect other organisms from pests. The related term vermin has much overlap with pest, but generally only includes those creatures that are seen to be vectors of diseases.

It is possible for an animal to be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another (for example, European rabbits introduced to Australia caused ecological damage beyond the scale they inflicted in their natural habitat). Many weeds (plant pests) are also seen as useful under certain conditions, for instance Patterson's curse is often valued as food for honeybees and as a wildflower, even though it can poison livestock.

The greatest importance as pests (in the order of economic importance) are insects, mites, nematodes and gastropods.^[2]

Contents 1 Insect 2 Mites 3 Gastropods 4 Vertebrates 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

Insect

Some common examples of pests are:

• ants
• aphids
• bed bugs
• mosquitoes
• cabbage white butterfly
• cockroaches
• houseflies
• Woodboring beetle

Mites

• chiggers

Gastropods

Some slugs are pests in agriculture in fields and in gardens. Their significance was increasing drastically.^[2] Deroceras reticulatum is a worldwide distributed slug pest.^[2] Local importance slug pests include: Deroceras spp.,^[2] Milax spp.,^[2] Tandonia sp.,^[2] Limax spp.,^[2] Arion spp.^[2] and some species of Veronicellidae:^[2] Veronicella sloanei.^[3]

Land snail pests include:

• Helix aspersa damages citrus fruits the California,^[2]
• Cernuella virgata, Theba pisana and Cochlicella spp. decrease quality of grains, when they are harvested into the product in the South Australia.^[2]
• Achatina fulica damages vegetables and ornamental plants in the Pacific region.
• Succinea costaricana damages ornamental plants in Costa Rica.^[4]
• Ovachlamys fulgens damages ornamental plants and orchids in Costa Rica.^[5]
• Other species considered to be pests include: Amphibulima patula dominicensis,^[3] Zachrysia provisoria^[3] and Bradybaena similaris.^[3]

Freshwater snail pests include:

• Pomacea canaliculata damages rice in the Southeast Asia.^[2]
• Bulinus sp., Biomphalaria spp. and Oncomelania are intermediate hosts of schistosomes causing schistosomiasis.^[2]
• Various species in Lymnaeidae are intermediate hosts of fasciolosis.^[2]

Vertebrates

• mice and other small rodents

See also

• Home stored product entomology
• Invasive species
• List of common household pests
• Pest control
• Pests and diseases of roses
• Vermin
• Weed

References

Further reading

• Burch, John B.. 1960. Some snails and slugs of quarantine significance to the United States. U.S. Dept. Argriculture, Agricultural Research Service 82(1): 73 pp

External links

• UF/IFAS Pest Alert Web site - arthropods, nematodes and plant diseases affecting humans, livestock/pets, agricultural and ornamental plants.