From Perception to Intervention: The Emerging Use of Sensory-Based Pest Control Tactics
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Pest and Disease Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 11
Special Issue Editors
Interests: insecticides; sublethal effects; ecosystem services; predators; native bees; butterflies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the ever-increasing effort to meet demands for safer, more sustainable pest control options while maintaining or maximizing efficacy, novel tactics that take advantage of insect sensory perception are emerging. These tactics, which target insect tactile, visual, olfactory, and gustatory responses, leverage our understanding of insect neuroscience, chemical ecology, and pest management. The discovery and testing of new pheromones, plant volatiles, light sources, tastants, and chemical deterrents are improving pest monitoring and control. These tactics can be effectively used as stand-alone attractants/repellents or in combination with available insecticides as baits. Some of these products or tactics offer novel and more sustainable ways to manage pests, while others simply optimize existing methods. This Special Issue will highlight the diverse ways that insect sensory systems are being targeted to improve pest management and will feature research on the discovery, development, testing, and associated challenges of using semiochemicals, such as pheromones, plant compounds and volatiles, UV and visible light sources, and other novel attractants/repellents for pest monitoring and management. We welcome all original research articles, review articles, methodology papers, and short communication papers relevant to this topic.
Dr. Vera A. Krischik
Dr. Carrie Deans
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- neuroscience
- chemical ecology
- chemoreception
- pheromones
- semiochemicals
- attractants
- repellents
- deterrents
- baits
- monitoring
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