this context, the use of pesticides and parasites 
and other pest-control measures are simply 
factors to be assessed, continued, or discarded 
in our development and exploitation of natural 
and manmade ecosystems for the provision of 
food and shelter and protection from disease- 
carrying vectors. 
BASIC INTERRELATIONS AFFECTING 
PEST CONTROL 
Interdependence is a universal law, well 
known to ecologists. Each organism has its own 
genetic code; but it is the environment that 
supplies the energy and materials which the 
inherited DNA guides into the formation of 
living tissues and life processes. As Platt 
et al. (2) suggested: "It seems useful to think 
of the environment-organism relationship as 
one having no arbitrary boundaries and in which 
flow rates and transfer rates between the 
organism and its environment are of paramount 
importance.'' To understand these relation- 
ships is a formidable task, but this is the ulti- 
mate goal of ecology. Whether it be inthe ocean, 
forest, wheatfield, greenhouse, or warehouse, 
the impact of the total environment will de- 
termine whether any organism or population 
will succeed, merely survive, or fail. Andthis 
universal fact applies alike to beneficial and 
pest populations, whether or not man has in- 
tervened, and whether or not he has deliberately 
introduced a pest-control measure. In this 
paper we are only concerned with pestcontrol, 
but this restriction in no way changes the basic 
fact; Pest control cannot be adequately as- 
sessed in isolation; it must be studied in rela- 
tion to the other elements of the communities 
concerned, 
Most of the outdoor environments in which 
pest control is practiced are complex and 
dynamic. In such instances, pest abundance is 
affected by physical factors, such as light, 
heat, moisture, fire, and atmospheric com- 
position, pressure, and motion; by biotic fac- 
tors, such as food, disease organisms, para- 
sites, competitor species, and inherent 
development and behavior patterns that confer 
various degrees of protection against adverse 
forces; and by manmade components, such as 
pesticides, lures, and cropping practices. The 
importance of any given factor varies in rela- 
tion to other factors that are concurrently 
active. It is not the individual factor, there- 
fore, but the whole complex of factors that 
normally controls populations. But so-called 
Catastrophic mortality factors (3) have been 
known to reduce insect populations to insignifi- 
cant proportions in a remarkably short time. 
Fire, storms, epidemics of disease, and ap- 
plications of chemicals fall in this category. 
Suffice it to say that ecology in general and 
pest control, as a form of applied ecology, 
demand the simultaneous attention of many 
kinds of scientists. The need for interdiscip- 
linary research is obvious in a field of science 
that is, to quote Edward Deevey (4), ''more 
multidisciplinary than any other."' 
But an adequate pest-control program rests 
on a still broader base than orthodox ecology. 
In entomology, for example, we need continuing 
support from the undergirding fields of anat- 
omy, taxonomy, physiology, genetics, and be- 
havior; and from studies of speciation, compe- 
tition, parasitism, and adaptation. As stated 
by Glen (5): ''These can be undertaken by in- 
dividual entomologists or by laboratories or 
institutions devoted primarily or solely to a 
study of insects. But when we undertake to 
study the interrelations of insects with agri- 
culture, forestry, commerce, or public health, 
much more than entomology is involved and 
the traditional entomology laboratory must give 
place to the broader-based research station 
embracing all the relevant disciplines and 
functioning under the authority of a single 
director."’ Such a changeover occurred in the 
Canada Department of Agriculture in 1959 and 
a similar shift is projected for the Canada 
Department of Forestry. Interdisciplinary ap- 
proaches to pest-control problems in both 
fields will receive greater attention as a result 
of this change in organization. The point to be 
emphasized here is that the change grew out of 
experience and the eventual conviction that 
many practical problems of farming and fores- 
try, including pest control, are very much 
broader than is the training of the individual 
research specialists required for their solu- 
tion. 
The use of pesticides is but one of a growing 
array of pest-control methods. But the "pesti- 
cide problem," in its grosser aspects, is known 
to cross scientific boundaries, to involve 
several levels of government, to affect both 
