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Pest control refers to the regulation or management of another species defined as a pest, usually because it is detrimental to a person's health, the ecology or the economy.Pest control is at least as old as agriculture. In order to maximize food production, it is necessary to protect crops from competing species of plants, as well as from herbivores competing with humans. This can be done with conventional, chemical or biological weapons.
The conventional approach was probably the first to be employed, since it is comparatively easy to destroy weeds by burning them or plowing them under, and to kill larger competing herbivores, such as crows and other birds eating seeds. Techniques such as crop rotation, companion planting, also known as intercropping or mixed cropping, and the selective breeding of pest-resistant cultivars also have a long history.
Many pests have only become a problem because of the direct actions of humans. Modifying these actions can often substancially reduce the pest problem. In the USA, raccoons caused a nuisance by tearing open refuse sacks. Many householders introduced bins with locking lids, which deterred the raccoons from visiting.
Seagulls have become a pest at many seaside resortsTorquay, a seaside resort in Devon, England. A seaside resort is a resort located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort . The first seaside resorts developed with the improvements in transportation . Tourists would often feed the birds with scraps of Fish_and_chipsFish and chips is deep-fried fish in batter and deep-fried potatoes, a popular take-away food originally from the United Kingdom, but also very popular in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and some coastal towns of Netherland and Norway, and also in, and before long, the birds would become dependent on this food source and act aggressively towards humans. Many local authorities have now erected signs warning visitors not to feed the seagulls.
Chemical pest control dates back to 2500 BCEBCE may stand for: Before the Common Era the same as BC and the opposite of Anno Domini ("AD") European Central Bank in some Romance languages (e. Banco Central Europeo Bell Canada Enterprises, Canada's largest telecom corporation TLAs., when the Sumerians used sulphur compound s as insecticideAn insecticide is a pesticide whose purpose is to kill or to prevent the multiplication of insects. Insecticides are very widely used in agriculture, as well as in people's dwellings and workplaces. The use of insecticides is one of the major causal factos. The Rig VedaThe Rig Veda #x94d (Sanskrit #x1e5b;c 'praise' + veda 'knowledge') is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas''. It consists of 1,017 hymns (1,028 including the apocryphal valakhilya hymns 8. 59) composed in Vedic Sanskrit, (c. 2000 BCEBCE may stand for: Before the Common Era the same as BC and the opposite of Anno Domini ("AD") European Central Bank in some Romance languages (e. Banco Central Europeo Bell Canada Enterprises, Canada's largest telecom corporation TLAs.) also mentions the use of poisonous plants for pest control. And the ancient ChineseWhen used as an adjective, Chinese refers to anything that originates from China, e. Chinese cuisine. When the word is used as a noun, it means one of the following: the Chinese language, either in general or specifically Chinese written language, Chinese and Egyptians are also known to have used chemical pest control. But it was only with the industrialization and mechanization of agriculture in the 18th and 19th century, and the introduction of the insecticides pyrethrum and derris that chemical pest control became the method of choice. In the 20th century, the discovery of several synthetic insecticides, such as DDT, and herbicides boosted this development. Chemical pest control is still the predominant type of pest control today, although its long-term effects led to a renewed interest in traditional and biological pest control towards the end of the 20th century.
