Concepts

3 tactics for using biological control

Advantages and disadvantages of each
Terms
Inundation
Inoculation
Secondary pest
Parasitoid

Biological Control
The reduction in population
numbers of a [pest] species
by other species (natural
enemies) through feeding
and related activities

Biological control is:

A natural process
provides free source of pest suppression - a
unique role
An alternative technology
to pesticides

It serves a dual purpose:

Protects food/other commodities

Protects environment

Biological control also supports the

goals of Integrated Pest Management.
Pest suppression with the:
fewest inputs or costs
least amount of environmental disruption
best long-term plan

Common Targets of
Biological Control

Insects

Weeds

What kind of natural

enemies do we
commonly use in
biological control?

Predators

Parasitoids

Pathogens

Herbivores
(to control weeds)

Ways to apply biological control

Augmentation = adding to what is

there, or starting population

Conservation = preserving and
protecting what is already there
Classical = importation

Augmentation
Adding natural enemies to those that are
(or might be) in the environment either by
1. inoculation, to start them going, or
2. inundation, to dampen pest peaks

Conservation
Preserve existing natural enemies by:
Habitat management
Food supplements
Reduced or selective pesticide use

Food supplements can increase

predator effectiveness
Wheast: A simulated honeydew
Attractant
Adult food
Oviposition
stimulant

Classical Biological Control = Importation

Many (most?) pests are non-native
Hessian fly
Oriental fruit moth
Boll weevil
Japanese beetle
European corn borer
Field bindweed
Musk thistle

In the absence of their native natural enemies,

these pests may go through explosive outbreaks!!!

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IMPORTATION

Classical Biological Control

Vedalia beetle on cottony cushion scale in CA
Carefully planned program 1888

R. cardinalis on
cottony cushion scale

California
oranges

Problems associated with importation:

9 Adaptation to new climate
9 Impact on, not just ability to attack,
pest
9 Negative effect on native insects and
other unintended targets
9 Interference with other natural
enemies

Only a 10% success rate!!!

Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia

First detected in TX panhandle in 1986
Losses estimated at > $850,000,000

Classical biological control program had 125 participants

representing 4 countries and 14 US states and released
>15,500,000 natural enemies 1987-1994.
Of 24 species released, only 4 have established, only 1,
Aphelinus albipodus, had any impact on the pest
Yet RWA is now a pest of minor importance in most
grain-growing regions of the USA. What happened?

Control was finally delivered

by native natural enemies
predation, not parasitism was the important source of RWA
mortality in OK (Lee, 1995)
Predation by the native coccinellid, Hippodamia convergens, was
the most recognizable source of mortality in western Kansas (Nechols
& Harvey, 1998)
native predators and parasites reduced the abundance of the RWA
and increased wheat yield, the introduced A. albipodus did not
(Hopper & Brewer, 2001)
Noma and Brewer (2001) concluded native dipteran predators
important source of early season RWA mortality in Wyoming

Solutions?
1. Evaluate invasive pests as potential,
rather than automatic,targets for CBC
2. Better ecological studies of pests and
their sources of mortality in countries
of origin
3. A waiting period following pest invasions
to allow indigenous natural enemies time
to respond

Weed biological control

Biological control of
Klamath weed

Before release

After release

Musk thistle,, Carduus nutans

Musk thistle head weevil,

Rhinocyllus conicus
Imported 1970s

Feeds on weed thistles

Does not feed on food plants
Does feed on native N. American species