This review article goes through the history of urban entomology publications and brings us to the current state of today. The term urban entomology was first used in 1884 in a note by AH waters. Skip to almost a century later, and the book “Urban Entomology” was published in 1975 by W. Ebeling. This began the common usage of the term in subsequent studies and publications.  

 

Urban entomology developed as a response to urbanization, it is a field of study that came about relatively recently and has expanded along with humans spread across the world. Although the term urban entomology wasn’t more official until the 1970s, we have some very notable books published before that including Mallis’s handbook of pest control in 1945 and then the scientific guide to pest control operations in 1962.  

The paper moves on to talk about some factors contributing to the importance of urban entomology starting with urbanization. We mentioned that the field has grown along with humanity. We've shifted to mostly rural living to increasing urban living. The shift has created huge opportunities for pests to thrive including the emergence of new pests and their natural habitats were built over. An interesting point they mention is that with urbanization, there is an increase in disgust with insects indoors and what may have been ignored in rural areas is considered more of a pest, and calls for control measures in more urban areas.  

Invasive pests have been a huge factor with new pests emerging in areas they never would have got to without the global nature of the world today. More trade created more pests and required futher study and exchange of information in the field of urban entomology. Similarly, resurgance of known pests especially with insecticide resistance, demands further research and expansion of the field. A classic example of this is bed bugs.  

With this understanding established, we move into the discussion of the “who” of urban entomology. The structural pest control and professional pest management industry began in the US in the 1930s and has grown over the last hundred years to surpass 11 billion in 2022. That’s a huge number and proves how widespread the pest management industry really is. With FIFRA, federal insecticide fungicide and rodenticide act, in 1947 and amendment in 1972, this brought us to the requirements of licensing, training, and reeducation that are what we all know today. With these requirements, land grant universities increased their cooperative extension services  and created endowed positions in the universities to create space for urban entomologists in higher education. Nowadays, these positions and ccooperative extension programs have been reduced as retireees are not replaced.  

There are organizations and societies that have held educational conferences including and elevating urban entomology as a field, with the Entomological Society of America, National Conference on Urban Entomology, and Pi Chi Omega, creating space for urban entomologists to share information and innovate in the field.

 With the decline in the number of urban entomologists in academia and the obstacles the modern pest management professional faces, I want to make sure that I'm not painting the state of today as being one of doom and gloom. There has been amazing progress in scientific advancements in the field. NPMA and the Pest Management Foundation are dedicated to supporting the next generation of urban entomologists through scholarships, research funding, and showcasing research at our events. To learn more about the Pest Management Foundation, visit our site, https://www.npmapestworld.org/foundation/.

Article by Ellie Lane

References

Rust MK, Lee CY, Bennett GW, Robinson WH. The Emergence and Sustainability of Urban Entomology. Annu Rev Entomol. 2024 Jan 25;69:59-79. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-012423-110612. Epub 2023 Aug 10. PMID: 37562050.

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