Integrated pest management in forestry: potential and challenges.

Abstract

AbstractThis paper summarizes the events leading to the development of integrated pest management (IPM). Due to the vastness of the subject, only the stages and progression towards IPM in forestry are illustrated by giving examples from Canadian experience. It covers the biological control of forest insects in Canada (mainly parasitoid introductions and work with insect viruses), and illustrates the evolution of IPM with three examples, two involving native species and one involving an introduced species, i.e. the spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana (illustrating the transition from the use of chemicals to biological pesticides), the Douglas fir tussock moth Orgyia pseudotsugata (development of the first truly IPM for a defoliator), and the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar (an introduced species that became established in eastern North America, but is still treated as a quarantine pest in western North America). Management of bark beetles, contributions in forest weed and plant pathogen control, and a perspective on the future potentials and challenges of IPM in forestry, exotic insects, decreasing pesticide use, genetic engineering of entomopathogens and transgenic trees are discussed.