Reposted from NSCC
Pest Risks: Environmental Causes
By Helen Alten
A curator returns on Saturday from a donor’s house with a collection of wool textiles. He is in a hurry and places three suitcases in his office, bypassing the IPM procedures. His office is adjacent to a collection processing room that doubles as overflow storage, again bypassing the IPM procedures. The museum is in the middle of an installation project, and he forgets to inform collections management or conservation of the new collection. Weeks go by, until the conservator notices small, pale moths fluttering out of the office.
Define the problem.
You know you have a pest problem. You have seen them, or you have seen suspected pest damage. Do you know why they are there? Do you know the extent of the problem? Do you know what the pests are? Are the insects you are seeing actually damaging the collections, or are they simply a nuisance pest? Do they indicate some other problem?
These are all valid questions.
Why are they there?
Pest species, like the rest of us, require certain conditions to live. They need food, harborage (a place to live) and water (or moisture). (They also need oxygen, but control of oxygen will be discussed in Section 5 under treatment.) The pest species is in conflict with us because we are providing them with one or more of these basic needs. By eliminating access to just one of these elements, then you can begin to manage the pest. Depending on the species this may mean different sources. If you can identify what the pest is there for, and you can come up with a strategy. The building itself is the first line of defense. The walls, windows and doors are there to prevent all sorts of unwanted elements, including pests from entering. However, buildings also provide excellent harborage to many species. In cold climates, mice often take up residence when cold weather begins. Once in, why move out? To be effective in eliminating pests from the building, all unwanted holes should be blocked. (Mice can slip through a hole that is one-quarter inch, about two mm, in diameter.) Windows should have screens. Specific mitigation strategies will be expanded on in Section 4. This can be challenging. Your building contains people in addition to your collections. Where there are people, there is food. And food is a primary attractant for rodents and many insects. So, too, is garbage. Clutter provides harborage. Food is moist and can be a water source. Thus strict housekeeping and food policies are vital in an IPM plan. Good housekeeping is an on-going requirement in any IPM plan. Insects are small and require very little food. They can exist on dust and crumbs. Some mice get the majority of their water through food, rather than water itself. Debris becomes a food source for pests. And the more dirt, debris and disorder, the harder it is to see the pests. You won’t be able to distinguish the dirt from the bugs.
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