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Landscape pest management is challenging and has historically relied on traditional pesticide rotations. Integrated pest management (IPM) is a combination of chemical and nonchemical control methods to reduce pesticide usage and reliance. Scant literature is available on consumer knowledge of IPM. To address this gap in knowledge, 1000 respondents were surveyed to evaluate their understanding of IPM. Questions were vetted using the Delphi method with nine industry and academic experts. More than 75% of respondents had some knowledge or were very knowledgeable of IPM. More education contributed strongly to more knowledge of IPM. The results of this study are comparable to those of another study and show that consumers are more knowledgeable than horticultural professionals may realize. Horticultural professionals could capitalize on this potential new market, with the understanding that some consumers would still need guidance to understand the myriad components of an IPM program. Future studies should evaluate consumer willingness to pay for plant products grown using IPM techniques such as biological controls and reduced chemical–pesticide inputs and, specifically, whether consumers are willing to pay for such biological control products or landscape scouting services. Future studies should also examine an IPM certification of ornamental plants and how they might perform compared to traditionally grown plants or certified organic-grown plants.

The US landscape industry consists of 632,000 businesses with >1 million persons employed in 2022. The most common service that landscape service providers (LSPs) perform is pest management. Over the past 25 years, LSPs have been challenged to adopt more holistic approaches to pest management via the use of nonchemical and less toxic chemical controls. Integrated pest management (IPM), specifically scouting, may be a useful approach for LSPs to manage pests more sustainably and market new services, such as biological control releases. Scant literature is available on LSP scouting practices or consumer acceptance of scouting services. The goal of this study was to determine if IPM-aware consumers were more likely to purchase a scouting program offered by an LSP. An online survey was distributed across the United States through a third-party panel service. The final sample included 928 usable responses. Data were analyzed using a binary logistic regression model. Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported having some knowledge or were very knowledgeable of IPM. Respondents 65 years of age and older were 13.1% points less likely to purchase a scouting service. Education level did not influence purchase likelihood. Consumer knowledge of IPM had a positive influence on the purchase likelihood, respondents with “some knowledge” (5.6%) and “very knowledgeable” (8.6%) were more likely to buy IPM services. Further, if the consumer was open to purchasing the scouting program, it is plausible that they might be more willing to allow an LSP to use a combination of chemical and nonchemical methods to manage pests.

Extension Master Gardener Volunteers (EMGVs) serve as critical educators in promoting research-based gardening practices such as integrated pest management (IPM), sustainable and environmentally responsible pest control methods. Despite the central role EMGVs play in public horticultural education, few studies have evaluated their actual IPM knowledge. This study assessed baseline IPM knowledge among EMGVs nationwide using a 12-question instrument developed through a modified Delphi process. A total of 887 valid responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ 2 tests, and regression modeling. Results revealed that although most respondents self-identified as “somewhat knowledgeable,” objective assessment scores revealed a higher level of competency, with 519 respondents (58.5%) scoring in the “very knowledgeable” range. Higher IPM knowledge scores were significantly associated with more years of education, younger age, male gender, and in-person or longer-format EMGV training programs. However, knowledge gaps were evident in questions related to pesticide classification, biological control, and organic labeling—terminology often misunderstood or conflated by both consumers and volunteers. These findings suggest that although EMGVs are generally well informed about IPM, targeted enhancements to training programs—particularly in areas such as pesticide usage, definitions, and biological controls—may enhance their ability to provide accurate research-based information to consumers. This study establishes a foundation for improved curriculum development and encourages continued research into EMGV competencies across other horticultural topics. This study represents the first national quantitative assessment of EMGV IPM knowledge in the United States and establishes a national baseline for future program evaluation.

Ornamental plant growers must be able to accurately assess production costs associated with woody liner stock to gain profit potential in a highly competitive industry. Fixed and variable cost inputs may not be intuitive or readily apparent to growers and may even differ between common types of production in the trade. To help liner producers identify profit-based price points for their woody ornamental liner stock, we modeled costs associated with producing familiar species and cultivars of a representative deciduous shade tree, a broadleaf evergreen, and a needle leaf evergreen liner. Production costs are projected down to individual plant units for each of the three most common liner production systems, including a field ground bed system, a polyhouse-covered (plant protection structure sheathed with one layer of 6-mil polyethylene film) ground bed system, and a polyhouse-covered container system. Production costs for individual plants varied due to the actual growing space available within each system. The field ground bed system offered greatest flexibility in crop planting density, with cost potentially distributed among the largest number of salable units. In addition to modeled costs, advantages and disadvantages of each liner cropping system are discussed.

1. Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance. 2. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. 3. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Using a set of criteria designed to identify realistic and achievable research goals, we selected questions from a pool submitted by the international palaeoecology research community and relevant policy practitioners. 4. The integration of online participation, both before and during the workshop, increased international engagement in question selection. 5. The questions selected are structured around six themes: human–environment interactions in the Anthropocene; biodiversity, conservation and novel ecosystems; biodiversity over long time-scales; ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling; comparing, combining and synthesizing information from multiple records; and new developments in palaeoecology. 6. Future opportunities in palaeoecology are related to improved incorporation of uncertainty into reconstructions, an enhanced understanding of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and processes and the continued application of long-term data for better-informed landscape management. 7. Synthesis. Palaeoecology is a vibrant and thriving discipline, and these 50 priority questions highlight its potential for addressing both pure (e.g. ecological and evolutionary, methodological) and applied (e.g. environmental and conservation) issues related to ecological science and global change.

In today's automated world, the need for economic generation of power is of vital importance. However, the industry is commonly perceived as being responsible for pollution of the atmosphere and contamination of land and water. Encompassing areas as diverse as current performance standards, the use of nuclear fuel and a historical overview of electricity supply, this 11th volume of Issues in Environmental Science and Technology aims to contribute to the public understanding of science in this important area. The emotive issues of air pollution and the ecological effects of overhead power lines are tackled, along with energy efficiency and conservation.