Introduction

The previous chapter analysed how society has been led to deal with pests at different stages in the development of modern pest management. Structured ways of thought, called paradigms, tend to direct efforts against pests and also direct the research needed to improve those efforts. Integrated pest management is accepted as the driving force behind current pest management practice and is seen as the guiding principle in pest management research (Dent, 2000; Kogan, 1998).

Contemporary analyses of IPM tend to concentrate on the successes of IPM and on other positive aspects. Although encouraging, this approach is not necessarily the best or most helpful in identifying and redressing the problems that still exist. A more introspective approach is needed if deficiencies are to be identified and targeted for improvement. One of the deficiencies noted in previous chapters has not been singled out for attention to any great extent in the IPM literature, namely the poorly articulated relationship between the practice of IPM and ecological theory. The aim of the current chapter is to scrutinise the research angles that relate to IPM and seek a realistic context for each of them. Research on pest or beneficial species for IPM purposes takes several distinct forms, depending on what problem area is being addressed.