Chemical communication agents (pheromones) in integrated pest management

The increasing resistance of pests to pesticides and microbes to drugs constitutes one of the major problems facing farmers and physicians, respectively. In the agricultural arena, there is a steady shift away from mere pesticide application to a more diversified approach and especially to integrated pest management (IPM). The latter strategy focuses, among others, on chemical communication among the species that cause most damage to crops - insect pests - and on disease transfer agents. Pheromones are the principal agent of chemical communication exploited in pest control. The major features of these natural nontoxic chemicals and their modes of application, current as well as potential, are described. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.