Development and use; Chemistry and synthesis; Mode of action; Structure-activity relationnships; Toxicology; Metabolic reactions metabolismo; Biological and environmental stability; Residue methodology; Resistance and synergismo.

Bruce E. Tabashnik and Richard T. Roush Pesticide resistance is an increasingly urgent worldwide problem. Resistance to one or more pesticides has been documented in more than 440 species of insects and mites. Resistance in vectors of human dise8se, particularly malaria-transmit ting mosquitoes, is a serious threat to public health in many nations. Agricultural productivity is jeopardized because of widespread resistance in crop and livestock pests. Serious resistance problems are also evident in pests of the urban environ ment, most notably cockroaches. Better understanding of pesticide resistance is needed to devise techniques for managing resistance (Le. , slowing, preventing, or reversing development of resistance in pests and promoting it in beneficial natural enemies). At the same time, resistance is a dramatic example of evolution. Knowledge of resistance can thus provide fundamental insights into evolution, genetics, physiology, and ecology. Resistance management can help to reduce the harmful effects of pesticides by decreasing rates of pesticide use and prolonging the efficacy of environmentally safe pesticides. In response to resistance problems, the concentration or frequency of pesticide applications is often increased. Effective resistance management would reduce this type of increased pesticide use. Improved monitoring of resis tance would also decrease the number of ineffective pesticide applications that are made when a resistance problem exists but has not been diagnosed. Resistance often leads to replacement of one pesticide with another that is more expensive and less compatible with alternative controls.

Volume 12 is devoted to current and future approaches to insect management and control. The topics discussed cover chemical control, including the use of juvenile hormone analogs, microbiological methods, including viral and fungal agents, biological control, and genetic approaches to insect control. The 20 chapters, all amply referenced and illustrated, well demonstrate the multidisciplinary nature of the subject and the degree of international effort that has led to the present state of knowledge. Fifteen of the chapters are devoted to the action of insecticides, reflecting the immensity of the subject. The past 30 years have witnessed remarkable advances in the scientific basis of insect control and this volume provides a convenient point of entry into the massive amount of literature now available.