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ENT 5024: Understanding Urban and Structural Entomology

Concentration: Plant Science and Pest Management
Credits: 3 graduate credit(s)

Description

Insects and arthropods pests that invade homes and other structures. Pest biology and behaviors that cause damage to buildings, businesses, and to human physical and mental health. Pest management practices based on assessment and utilization of all effective control practices where pest elimination is the intended outcome. Food Quality Protection Act, US HUD Housing bid requirements, the US EPA pesticide registration process, the Warranty of Habitability and social service policies which have contributed to underserved and elderly residents being the most at risk for large populations of urban pests.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Anticipate the ways in which fear and dislike for urban pests may have influence ($$$) on a stakeholder’s pest management decisions.
  2. Identify particular urban pest species on sight (specifically the common bed bug, subterranean termites, and German cockroaches etc.).
  3. Communicate with non-expert stakeholders how a particular arthropod’s biology and behavior relates to its status as a public health (potential disease vector), nuisance (occasional invader), or structural (wood destroying) pest.
  4. Make informed recommendations as to how each pest should be controlled (chemical and non-chemical methods) based on population size, environmental conditions, and potential for pesticide resistance.
  5. Evaluate the Food Quality Protection Act, the Warranty of Habitability and other regulations that govern pesticides and pest management- the intentions of these regulations, and their financial consequences.
  6. Apply knowledge of mental (delusory parasitosis and multiple chemical sensitivity) and physical health effects (Zika and Lyme disease) related to urban pest infestations (real or imagined) and pesticide use to relevant situations and stakeholders.
  7. Apply the concepts of assessment-based pest management (APM) in the field.
  8. Determine pest management labor costs, and communicate how an undersold account will result in pesticide application only, not pest control. 

Prerequisites and Corequisites

Graduate Standing

Instructor(s)

Dini Miller