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A pest is any living thing which humans consider troublesome to themselves, their possessions, or the environment. [1] Pests can cause issues with crops, human or animal health, buildings, and wild areas or larger landscapes. [2] An older usage of the word "pest" is of a deadly epidemic disease, specifically plague.
Infestations can be classified as either external or internal with regards to the parasites' location in relation to the host. External or ectoparasitic infestation is a condition in which organisms live primarily on the surface of the host (though porocephaliasis can penetrate viscerally) and includes those involving mites, ticks, head lice and bed bugs.
A fish parasite, the isopod Cymothoa exigua, replacing the tongue of a Lithognathus. Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. [1]
Parasites can provide information about host population ecology. In fisheries biology, for example, parasite communities can be used to distinguish distinct populations of the same fish species co-inhabiting a region. [9] Additionally, parasites possess a variety of specialized traits and life-history strategies that enable them to colonize hosts.
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. [1] It relies on predation , parasitism , herbivory , or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role.
Spider wasps paralyse and eventually kill their hosts, but are considered parasitoids, not predators.. At the most basic level, predators kill and eat other organisms. However, the concept of predation is broad, defined differently in different contexts, and includes a wide variety of feeding methods; moreover, some relationships that result in the prey's death are not necessarily called pre
Coevolution between parasite and host can lead to hosts becoming resistant to the parasites or the parasites may evolve greater virulence, leading to immunopathological disease. Human activity is involved with many emerging infectious diseases, such as environmental change enabling a parasite to occupy new niches.
Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. [1] The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range from tolerance, through deterrence and management, to attempts to completely eradicate the ...