What is the name of an ecosystem-based strategy that emphasizes long-term pest prevention through biological control, habitat manipulation, and cultural practices?

• A. Eutrophication
• B. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
• C. Aquaculture
• D. Remote Sensing

Answer: (B)

Integrated Pest Management is an ecosystem-based approach that emphasizes long-term pest prevention by blending biological control, habitat manipulation, and cultural practices with careful monitoring and selective interventions. Biological control uses natural enemies to keep pest populations in check, reducing reliance on chemical pesticides. Habitat manipulation—like maintaining diverse field margins, cover crops, and refuges for beneficial organisms—helps sustain these allies and disrupts pest lifecycles. Cultural practices such as crop rotation, sanitation, resistant varieties, and appropriate planting times minimize pest establishment and spread. By monitoring pest levels and using action thresholds, this strategy targets controls only when necessary, aiming for sustainable, often reduced, chemical use. The other options don’t describe a comprehensive pest-management approach that integrates ecological methods for long-term prevention.