Pest Directory - eine weltweite CD-ROM Datenbank zur Förderung der Forschung im Pflanzenschutz

Electronic databases are of growing interest in the scientific community. On one hand, address databases, including e-mail addresses, facilitate communication and discussion between experts world-wide. This can enhance cooperation especially between industrial and developing countries. On the other hand, databases are available that cover information on pests and diseases. The International Society for Pest Information (ISPI) has developed a database combining the two areas of interest. Copies of the database are available on CD-ROM disk at low price. It contains addresses, literature and other information on pests, diseases and weeds as well as their natural enemies. The database can be installed on any computer under MS-Windows (95 and up) and occupies approximately 100 MB of hard-disk space. Updated versions of the ISPI Pest Directory are issued on an annual basis. Currently, more than 15 000 addresses and more than 10 000 pests and natural enemies are covered. The 2003 issue will contain more than 30 000 references, mainly related to recent publications. Information retrieval in the Pest Directory goes beyond the usual text search features, due to a special structure of the data. For instances, the suppliers of beneficials in country X or the universities of country Y can be displayed in a few steps. Similarly, a few mouse clicks will filter out the pests of a given crop in a selected region or sort recent literature on that pest according to the research field covered (e.g. taxonomy, biological control or pesticide resistance). The hierarchical data structure allows broadening the search quickly to related topics. For example, retrieving information on the family of aphids (Aphididae) will automatically combine the literature, host plants and contact scientists available for all the individual species of that family. Parts of the database are freely available in the internet. The ISPI is a non-profit network of scientist which aims to improve information exchange between scientists and professionals through electronic media like e-mail, internet and CD-ROM.