Chasing the Red Queen The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pes
In the race to feed the world’s seven billion people, we are at a standstill. Over the past century, we have developed increasingly potent and sophisticated pesticides, yet in 2014, the average percentage of U.S. crops lost to agricultural pests was no le
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Our current approach to agriculture is leaving us farther and farther behind in the race. But if we play by the rules of the evolutionary game, we stand a very good chance of taking control of our food supply, and that means taking control of our future. We can use the principles of evolutionary biology to escape the chemical treadmill. This knowledge is critical for the student of biology, the policy maker, the environmental advocate, the farmer, and anyone concerned with the long-term viability of our system of food production. ANDY DYER is a professor of biology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken. He is the author or coauthor of thirty journal articles and book chapters on plant ecology. Dr. Dyer’s research interests include population and community ecology, invasive species ecology, and habitat restoration. Cover design: Maureen Gately Cover Photo: Close up of corn, wheat and soybeans, © svengine, iStockphoto.com
Washington | Covelo | London www.islandpress.org All Island Press books are printed on recycled, acid-free paper.
Chasing Red Queen the
Chasing the Red Queen
In Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice she must run as fast as she can just to stay in one place. Modern agriculture, with its almost total dependence on chemical pesticides, is the Alice of today. Try as we might, our every attempt to control insects and weeds is met with an evolutionary response: they adapt and become resistant to the poisons. We fight back with new, improved chemicals—they respond by adapting again, and on it goes, over and over, as it has for the past sixty years. In a race that we cannot afford to lose, we are depleting our chemical arsenal. In recent years, we have turned to biotechnology for new solutions to these problems . . . and the pests are adapting to those as well. Can we run faster? Should we continue to run at all?
Dyer
The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pests and Poisons
Andy Dyer
chasing the red queen
Chasing the Red Queen the evolutionary race between agricultural pests and poisons
Andy Dyer
Washington | Covelo | London
Copyright © 2014 Andy Dyer All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036. ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of the Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Control Number: 2014942401 Printed on recycled, acid-free paper
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Keywords: Island Press, pesticide resistance, microbial ecology, sustainable agriculture, eco-agriculture, monoculture, trophic cascades, biotechnology, genetics, Darwin, Roundup
“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else—if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all of the running you can do to keep in t
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