5.4 understand the reasons for pest control and the advantages and disadvantages of using pesticides and biological control with crop plants

Pest control: using chemical pesticides to control pests.

Pest Control Advantages:
- an efficient, quick method
- immediate effect
- targets and kills the population of pests easily

Pest Control Disadvantages:
- can kill other organisms
- pests may develop resistance
- toxic to the food chain (often poisonous to humans)
- need for continuous application, not long-lasting


Biological control: natural method of using other organisms (pest predators) to reduce the numbers of pests

Biological Control Advantages:
- natural method
- plants will not develop resistance to it
- can be used to target specific species
- long-lasting effect
- efficient as there is minimal effort required to introduce biological control.

Biological Control Disadvantages:
- can kill other organisms
- cannot kill the entire population of pests
- predators may be unadaptable to the new environment and die