Biological control is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms.
It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.
There are three basic types of biological pest control strategies: importation (sometimes called classical biological control), in which a natural enemy of a pest is introduced in the hope of achieving control; augmentation, in which locally-occurring natural enemies are bred and released to improve control; and conservation, in which measures are taken to increase natural enemies, such as by planting nectar-producing crop plants in the borders of rice fields.
Natural enemies of insect pests, also known as biological control agents, include predators, parasitoids, and pathogens. Biological control agents of plant diseases are most often referred to as antagonists. Biological control agents of weeds include seed predators, herbivores and plant pathogens.
Biological control can have side-effects on biodiversity through predation, parasitism, pathogenicity, competition, or other attacks on non-target species, especially when a species is introduced without thorough understanding of the possible consequences.
Types of biological pest control
There are three basic biological pest control strategies: importation (classical biological control), augmentation and conservation.
Importation
Importation or classical biological control involves the introduction of a pest’s natural enemies to a new locale where they do not occur naturally. Early instances were often unofficial and not based on research, and some introduced species became serious pests themselves.
To be most effective at controlling a pest, a biological control agent requires a colonizing ability which allows it to keep pace with the spatial and temporal disruption of the habitat. Control is greatest if the agent has temporal persistence, so that it can maintain its population even in the temporary absence of the target species, and if it is an opportunistic forager, enabling it to rapidly exploit a pest population.
Joseph Needham noted a Chinese text dating from 304 AD, Records of the Plants and Trees of the Southern Regions, by Hsi Han, which describes mandarin oranges protected by large reddish-yellow citrus ants which attack and kill insect pests of the orange trees. The citrus ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) was rediscovered in the 20th century, and since 1958 has been used in China to protect orange groves.[
One of the earliest successes in the west was in controlling Icerya purchasi (cottony cushion scale) in Australia, using a predatory insect Rodolia cardinalis (the vedalia beetle). This success was repeated in California using the beetle and a parasitoid fly, Cryptochaetum iceryae.
Cactoblastis cactorum larvae feeding on Opuntia cacti
Prickly pear cacti were introduced into Queensland, Australia as ornamental plants. They quickly spread to cover over 25 million hectares of Australia. Two control agents were used to help control the spread of the plant, the cactus moth Cactoblastis cactorum, and Dactylopius scale insects.
Damage from Hypera postica, the alfalfa weevil, a serious introduced pest of forage, was substantially reduced by the introduction of natural enemies. 20 years after their introduction the population of weevils in the alfalfa area treated for alfalfa weevil in the Northeastern United States remained 75 percent down.
The invasive species Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed) was controlled in Florida (U.S.) by introducing alligator weed flea beetle.
Alligator weed was introduced to the United States from South America. It takes root in shallow water, interfering with navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The alligator weed flea beetle and two other biological controls were released in Florida, enabling the state to ban the use of herbicides to control alligator weed three years later. Another aquatic weed, the giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) is a serious pest, covering waterways, reducing water flow and harming native species. Control with the salvinia weevil (Cyrtobagous salviniae) is effective in warm climates, and in Zimbabwe, a 99% control of the weed was obtained over a two-year period.
Small commercially reared parasitoidal wasps, Trichogramma ostriniae, provide limited and erratic control of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis), a serious pest. Careful formulations of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis are more effective.
The population of Levuana iridescens, the Levuana moth, a serious coconut pest in Fiji, was brought under control by a classical biological control program in the 1920s.
Augmentation
Hippodamia convergens, the convergent lady beetle, is commonly sold for biological control of aphids.
Augmentation involves the supplemental release of natural enemies, boosting the naturally occurring population. In inoculative release, small numbers of the control agents are released at intervals to allow them to reproduce, in the hope of setting up longer-term control, and thus keeping the pest down to a low level, constituting prevention rather than cure. In inundative release, in contrast, large numbers are released in the hope of rapidly reducing a damaging pest population, correcting a problem that has already arisen. Augmentation can be effective, but is not guaranteed to work, and relies on understanding of the situation.
An example of inoculative release occurs in greenhouse production of several crops. Periodic releases of the parasitoid, Encarsia formosa, are used to control greenhouse whitefly, while the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis is used for control of the two-spotted spider mite.
The egg parasite Trichogramma is frequently released inundatively to control harmful moths. Similarly, Bacillus thuringiensis and other microbial insecticides are similarly used in large enough quantities for a rapid effect. Recommended release rates for Trichogramma in vegetable or field crops range from 5,000 to 200,000 per acre (1 to 50 per square metre) per week according to the level of pest infestation.Similarly, entomopathogenic nematodes are released at rates of millions and even billions per acre for control of certain soil-dwelling insect pests.
Conservation
The conservation of existing natural enemies in an environment is the third method of biological pest control. Natural enemies are already adapted to the habitat and to the target pest, and their conservation can be simple and cost-effective, as when nectar-producing crop plants are grown in the borders of rice fields. These provide nectar to support parasitoids and predators of planthopper pests and have been demonstrated to be so effective (reducing pest densities by 10- or even 100-fold) that farmers sprayed 70% less insecticides, enjoyed yields boosted by 5%, and this led to an economic advantage of 7.5%. Predators of aphids were similarly found to be present in tussock grasses by field boundary hedges in England, but they spread too slowly to reach the centres of fields. Control was improved by planting a metre-wide strip of tussock grasses in field centres, enabling aphid predators to overwinter there.
An inverted flowerpot filled with straw to attract earwigs
Cropping systems can be modified to favor natural enemies, a practice sometimes referred to as habitat manipulation. Providing a suitable habitat, such as a shelterbelt, hedgerow, or beetle bank where beneficial insects can live and reproduce, can help ensure the survival of populations of natural enemies. Things as simple as leaving a layer of fallen leaves or mulch in place provides a suitable food source for worms and provides a shelter for insects, in turn being a food source for such beneficial mammals as hedgehogs and shrews. Compost piles and stacks of wood can provide shelter for invertebrates and small mammals. Long grass and ponds support amphibians. Not removing dead annuals and non-hardy plants in the autumn allows insects to make use of their hollow stems during winter. In California, prune trees are sometimes planted in grape vineyards to provide an improved overwintering habitat or refuge for a key grape pest parasitoid. The providing of artificial shelters in the form of wooden caskets, boxes or flowerpots is also sometimes undertaken, particularly in gardens, to make a cropped area more attractive to natural enemies. For example, earwigs are natural predators which can be encouraged in gardens by hanging upside-down flowerpots filled with straw or wood wool. Green lacewings can be encouraged by using plastic bottles with an open bottom and a roll of cardboard inside. Birdhouses enable insectivorous birds to nest; the most useful birds can be attracted by choosing an opening just large enough for the desired species.