The consequence of this genetic conservatism is that a host of pests have caught up with the grape, obliging growers to protect their vines with a deluge of insecticides, fungicides and other powerful chemicals.
By Michelle Nijhuis April 11 , 2013In 1965, while on assignment for the magazine, John McPhee visited the University of Florida's venerable Citrus Experiment Station, where the staff spent much of its time counselling citrus growers suffering from bad luck, waterlogged soil, or one of a host of pests and diseases: exocortis, psorosis, rust mites, red mites, six-spotted mites, mealy bugs.
Photograph by Francois Perri/REA/Redux In 1965, while on assignment for the magazine, John McPhee visited the University of Florida's venerable Citrus Experiment Station, where the staff spent much of its time counselling citrus growers suffering from bad luck, waterlogged soil, or one of a host of pests and diseases: exocortis, psorosis, rust mites, red mites, six-spotted mites, mealy bugs.
In 1965, while on assignment for the magazine, John McPhee visited the University of Florida's venerable Citrus Experiment Station, where the staff spent much of its time counselling citrus growers suffering from bad luck, waterlogged soil, or one of a host of pests and diseases: exocortis, psorosis, rust mites, red mites, six-spotted mites, mealy bugs.
Despite a host of other pests and diseases, it's been a good growing year for trees.
But they are increasingly being challenged by a host of introduced pests, and others that are spreading because of warmer conditions.
The weaver ants, it turns out, are very thorough about hunting down and eating fruit flies, as well as a host of other pests.
The word "pesticide" is used to include herbicides, fungicides, molluscicides (these kill snails and slugs) and a host of other "pests".
This disease, caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea, has – along with a host of other such pests and pathogens – the potential to cause great damage to our woodlands and perhaps even change how our landscapes look in the coming decades.
Scientists say the approach, known as gene drive, could be used to solve a host of problems, from controlling agricultural pests to eliminating invasive species and tackling diseases such Zika, dengue and malaria.
Humans regard certain insects as pests, and attempt to control them using insecticides and a host of other techniques.
