Which pest management strategy involves altering the behavior of pests?

The strategy that involves altering the behavior of pests is cultural control. This approach focuses on modifying farming practices and environmental conditions to reduce pests' access to resources and to increase their vulnerability to natural enemies or control measures. For instance, practices such as crop rotation, intercropping, planting pest-resistant crop varieties, and adjusting planting times can disrupt pest life cycles and habits, ultimately leading to reduced pest populations.

By changing the environment or the method of cultivation, cultural control can effectively make it more difficult or less suitable for pests to thrive. This method emphasizes proactive management and can enhance plant health and yields while minimizing the need for chemical pesticides.

In contrast, genetic modification involves altering the genetic makeup of organisms, mechanical control relies on physical methods to remove or deter pests, and biological control utilizes natural predators or parasites to manage pest populations. While all these approaches can be effective in pest management, they do not specifically target the alteration of pest behavior in the same way that cultural control does.