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Pest  [ Biology - Agronomy - Phytopathology ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

     
  Pests are those animals (insects, mites, birds, rodents etc.) which damage cultivated plants.  
     
The term "pest" is broad and is now used more generally encompassing a overwhelming spectrum of organism which have characteristics which people regard as unwanted, injurious, detrimental, destructive or capable of causing material damage to cultivation, crops, lawns, health of living creatures or to the environment.

Pests comprise any living stage (including active and dormant forms) of insects, mites
, nematodes, termites, slugs, snails, protozoa, or other terrestrial or aquatic animals, bacteria, fungi, mildew, weeds, other parasitic plants or reproductive parts thereof; viruses; other plants and animals that can damage aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; or any infectious agents or substances which can directly or indirectly injure or cause disease or damage in or to humans, plants or animals or any processed, manufactured, or other products of plants or animals.

It is possible for an animal to be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another (for example, European rabbits introduced to Australia caused ecological damage beyond the scale they inflicted in their natural habitat)

Every pest --from deer to nematodes-- causes its own set of problems and has its own set of potential controls. To get rid of pests - before deciding on poisons, though, for control - consider how much damage the pest is really doing. A small amount of nibbling is generally acceptable and won't really affect overall harvest or plant health.

Many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides.
     

 


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Holdfast roots  [ Botany  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

 
     
  Some species of climbing plants develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place.  
     
Climbing plants, like the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans),  develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place. Usually the Holdfast roots die at the end of the first season, but in some species they are perennial. In the tropics some of the large climbing plants have hold-fast roots by which they attach themselves, and long, cord-like roots that extend downward through the air and may lengthen and branch for several years until they strike the soil and become absorbent roots.

Major references and further lectures:
1) E. N. Transeau “General Botany” Discovery Publishing House, 1994
     

 

 

 

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