Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a method of preventing insect influence without heavily relying on pesticides. For example, insects generally like warm, moist places, so one way to do IPM is to make sure the target environment is cool and dry. The Emory herbarium does this and other things (like pheromone traps) to make sure insects don't eat the dried plants in the archives.

After noticing several unwanted insects in my dorm room, I've adopted parts of IPM that also fall under common sense: covering food and water and cleaning things every so often. It seems to be working out so far.