ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CONTROL STRATEGIES - ARTHROPODS OF DOMESTIC AND PRODUCTION ANIMALS

The control of arthropods of veterinary importance represents a distur bance for the ecosystem and its animal community. This disturbance can influence the densities of target and non-target organisms and their associated indirect interactions in the food web, leading to reduction s in the species richness and diversities in the communities involved. Finely tuned control affecting the target organism alone can have une xpected consequences, depending on the relationships between the targe t and other organisms within the food web, Broad-spectrum control meth ods will have more wide ranging and less predictable consequences. Mod ifications within the community caused by arthropod control can take p lace over generations and may not be immediately apparent, Most modern techniques of control are designed to minimize environmental impact b y concentrating specifically on the target organism. The effects of co ntrol of arthropod pests of domestic and production stock must be seen against a background of more general effects caused by rural developm ent which acts to modify the environment continuously over a long time span. (C) 1997 Australian Society for Parasitology. Published by Else vier Science Ltd.