/ The article presents a holistic approach to studying and applying crop protection in agricultural systems A theoretical framework of integrated pest management (IPM) is presented that allows an understanding of pest population processes on a wholeagroecological-system basis The need for and emergence of holistic research on agroecosystems is discussed, as are the current trends in ecological theory and pest managementThe search for ways to control the environment is a fundamental drive in human history. At the forefront of these struggles is the quest for ways to deal with agricultural pest organisms. People have experienced direct competition with arthropod pests since the beginning of agricultural activities. In those times, the operation of farms was an art based on field knowledge accumulated from years of experience and transmitted from generation to generation. Primitive farmers lacked elements of refined technology and the capability to produce at a high capacity. Nevertheless, their practices were to a large extent self-sustaining and efficient (Black 1971). Their crop systems were diversfied, and nutrients and other resources were recycled. These farming systems still prevail in many areas of the tropics (Janzen 1973).As scientific advances developed, the resulting technologies were incorporated into agricultural practices. Also, the expanding human population increased the demand for greater production capacities. This led to the increased intensification of agriculture, characterized by even sharper specialization in certain commodities, and a dependence on fossil energy and vast crop monocultures. The fact that the emerging modern crop systems are ecologically unstable and that serious pest problems can be anticipated in such systems has become very apparent (Southwood and Way 1970, van Emden andWilliams 1974).A desire for and expectation of finding a magical cure-all for pest problems fostered a persistent effort toward increasing use of synthetic chemical compounds at the expense of desirable cultural practices and biological regulation concepts (Van den Bosch and Telford 1964). A great deal of valuable ecological lore of the early farmers was lost in the midst of technological advances. Modern agriculturalists have not adequately balanced the pursuit of immediate maximization of crop yields KEY WORDS: Agroecosystems; Integrated pest management (IPM); Holistic approaches; Ecosystem-oriented pest management and profits with an appreciation of the importance of maintaining resource diversity and biological stability as a means of helping sustain relatively high yields on a long-term basis. Moreover, in our educational programs the agroecosystem has been largely viewed as consisting of components to be studied separately by various independent disciplines. Unfortunately, this orientation disregards the holism of the agroecosystem, masking features of the system that could be critical for understanding the complex system interactions that govern the production process. Plant protection is no ...
N orthern Alaska is warming at a rate more than twice that of the contiguous US (Chapin et al. 2014), resulting in transformative change to the tundra and boreal ecosystems that characterize this region. A distinguishing feature of these high-latitude systems is the general absence of a uniform disturbance regime (Walker and Walker 1991). In recent years, however, this region has been marked by more frequent climatically driven disturbances. For example, the 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire burned 1039 km 2 of tussock tundra during an abnormally warm late summer in an area with no modern record of large wildfires (Mack et al. 2011). As the climate warms, the permafrost thaws and the soil active layer (which lies above the permafrost and which freezes and thaws seasonally) deepens, thereby facilitating the decomposition and eventual release of large amounts of organic carbon (C) stored within the soil (Grosse et al. 2011). Furthermore, changes in the distribution and abundance of tundra vegetation under a warming climate may result in shifts in wildlife habitat (Callaghan et al. 2004; Martin et al. 2009), as well as changes in timing, abundance, and accessibility of resources harvested by local subsistence communities. The residents of rural communities in northern Alaska live at the forefront of this change. Consequently, both residents and land managers have highlighted the need to better understand climate impacts in the terrestrial Arctic (Figure 1), which requires scaling up from the fine resolution of most previous scientific studies to landscape-and regional-level assessments that can guide or inform resource management decisions (Martin et al. 2009). Many existing institutions are not well suited to responding to the expected effects of climate change on ecosystem services or to the uncertainties associated with these effects (Knapp and Trainor 2013; Armsworth et al. 2015), particularly in the rapidly changing Arctic. The creation of climate impacts science for decision making requires sustained communication and collab
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