Vector ecology and integrated control procedures

The elucidation of population regulatory mechanisms calls for exhaustive biological and ecological studies of whole ecosystems. Until lately, little effort was made to relate insect control activities to such a background, and the use of non-selective pesticides has often resulted in biotic equilibria being disrupted to the ultimate advantage of the organism under attack or of some other undesirable species. However, there is a growing realization in the field of economic entomology at large that biotic control agents usually constitute the major portion of the environmental resistance to increases in pest numbers and that insecticides should be fitted into the ecosystem, and not imposed upon it-in fact, that integrated control procedures are called for.The author considers such integrated procedures from the standpoint of vector control. His paper points out their potentialities in helping to solve resistance problems and in increasing the selectivity of control operations. It further suggests that they offer the means of achieving economical and lasting reductions of vector populations to levels at which human disease transmission is interrupted and pest problems lose much of their importance.