Integrated Pest Management (IPM) provides an illustration of how crop protection has (or has not) evolved over the past six decades. Throughout this period, IPM has endeavored to promote sustainable forms of agriculture, pursued sharp reductions in synthetic pesticide use, and thereby resolved myriad socio-economic, environmental, and human health challenges. Global pesticide use has, however, largely continued unabated, with negative implications for farmer livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and the human right to food. In this review, we examine how IPM has developed over time and assess whether this concept remains suited to present-day challenges. We believe that despite many good intentions, hard realities need to be faced. 1) We identify the following major weaknesses: i) a multitude of IPM definitions that generate unnecessary confusion; ii) inconsistencies between IPM concepts, practice, and policies; iii) insufficient engagement of farmers in IPM technology development and frequent lack of basic understanding of its underlying ecological concepts. 2) By diverting from the fundamental IPM principles, integration of practices has proceeded along serendipitous routes, proven ineffective, and yielded unacceptable outcomes. 3) We show that in the majority of cases, chemical control still remains the basis of plant health programs. 4) Furthermore, IPM research is often lagging, tends to be misguided, and pays insufficient attention to ecology and to the ecological functioning of agroecosystems. 5) Since the 1960s, IPM rules have been twisted, its foundational concepts have degraded and its serious (farm-level) implementation has not advanced. To remedy this, we are proposing Agroecological Crop Protection as a concept that captures how agroecology can be optimally put to the service of crop protection. Agroecological Crop Protection constitutes an interdisciplinary scientific field that comprises an orderly strategy (and clear prioritization) of practices at the field, farm, and agricultural landscape level and a dimension of social and organizational ecology.

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines (Matsumura), is native to eastern Asia and has recently invaded North America, where it is currently the most important insect pest of soybeans. The soybean aphid has spread rapidly within North America, presumably through a combination of active and passive (wind-aided) flight. Here, we studied the active flight potential of A. glycines under a range of environmental conditions using an aphid flight mill. Winged (alate) A. glycines were tested on a specially designed 32-channel, computer-monitored flight mill system. Aphids that were 12-24 h old exhibited the strongest flight behavior, with average flight durations of 3.3-4.1 h, which represented flight distances of 4.6-5.1 km. After the age of 72 h, A. glycines flight performance rapidly declined. The optimum temperature range for flight was 16-28 degrees C, whereas optimum relative humidity was 75%. Our findings show that A. glycines posseses a fairly strong active flight aptitude (ability and inclination) and point to the possibility of flight initiation under a broad range of environmental conditions. These results have the potential to aid forecasting and management protocols for A. glycines at the landscape level.

The Anthropocene is characterised by pervasive human‐inflicted impacts on a broad range of biota, including insects. In 2019, we reviewed scientific literature quantifying the prevalence and magnitude of insect declines in recent time. Here, drawing upon 40 additional long‐term studies, we add evidence that is consistent with our earlier review and some other reviews on the fate of insect populations globally. New data for Greenland, northern Africa, South America, eastern Asia and Australia complement studies from Europe and North America. Temporal trends in insect populations are now derived from 100 long‐term studies and refer mainly to the past three or four decades (median 33 years). Data from the 10 major insect taxonomic orders indicate that an average 37% of species are declining in numbers, while populations of 18% species are increasing; the latter taxa mainly involve agricultural herbivores and nuisance pests. Population changes are more pronounced among aquatic insect communities, where 42% of species are declining and 29% increasing. Such changes result in a decrease in biomass across taxa, except for Heteroptera. Changes in species richness and diversity indices are inconsistent and do not reflect intraspecific population changes over time. These trends are observed irrespective of taxon, geography or methodological approach, although a lack of long‐term monitoring records prevents a proper assessment for tropical regions.

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We present a synthetic review and expert consultation that assesses the actual risks posed by arthropod pests in four major crops, identifies targets for integrated pest management (IPM) in terms of cultivated land needing pest control and gauges the implementation “readiness” of non-chemical alternatives. Our assessment focuses on the world’s primary target pests for neonicotinoid-based management: western corn rootworm (WCR, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera ) in maize; wireworms ( Agriotes spp.) in maize and winter wheat; bird cherry-oat aphid ( Rhopalosiphum padi ) in winter wheat; brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens ) in rice; cotton aphid ( Aphis gossypii ) and silver-leaf whitefly (SLW, Bemisia tabaci ) in cotton. First, we queried scientific literature databases and consulted experts from different countries in Europe, North America, and Asia about available IPM tools for each crop-pest system. Next, using an online survey, we quantitatively assessed the economic relevance of target pests by compiling country-level records of crop damage, yield impacts, extent of insecticide usage, and “readiness” status of various pest management alternatives (i.e., research, plot-scale validation, grower-uptake). Biological control received considerable scientific attention, while agronomic strategies (e.g., crop rotation), insurance schemes, decision support systems (DSS), and innovative pesticide application modes were listed as key alternatives. Our study identifies opportunities to advance applied research, IPM technology validation, and grower education to halt or drastically reduce our over-reliance on systemic insecticides globally. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-020-09279-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Vietnam is a large country of Southeast Asia and a globally recognized hotspot of biodiversity. Until recently, only limited surveys had been carried out on the resident Phytoseiidae fauna and presence of 12 species had been documented, with 11 belonging to the sub-family Amblyseiinae and 1 to the sub-family Typhlodrominae. Here, we present results from 2017 field surveys and add a total of 8 new country records, one of which a newly-described species. At least 5 species (i.e., Neoseiulus longispinosus, Paraphytoseius cracentis, P. orientalis, Amblyseius cinctus and A. herbicolus) are well-known biological control agents (BCA), while two species (Euseius ovaloides and Gynaeseius liturivorus) carries ample potential as BCA agents but necessitates further study. In addition to the intrinsic value of phytoseiid mite biodiversity in tropical environments, demonstration of the natural occurrence of efficient BCAs in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam is of great agricultural and commercial interest.

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