Biological Control, Functional Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Insect Pest Management

Abstract

Biological control has come a long way and has been adapting to the changing needs of agricultural pest suppression. Changes in crop management practices, transgenic crops and new pesticide molecules have a profound effect on the natural pest suppression. Biocontrol like any other control technique is not without associated risks and cannot be considered as a panacea for maintaining environmental health. In order to sustain biological control there is a need to study the ecology of crop systems as a whole and design strategies based on the positive and negative interactions. Benefi ts of biodiversity are contextual and are diluted by trophic interactions which may be positive, negative or neutral. Habitat management strategies are used for enhancing the positive effects of biodiversity on pest suppression and are the basis of conservation biological control. Here we attempt to give an overview of the status of classical and introductory biological control programmes worldwide, risks that need to be addressed and the various principles of the emerging fi eld of conservation biological control which aims at harnessing the in situ biodiversity of crop ecosystems.

Egg maturation dynamics of the parasitoid Microplitis rufiventris: starvation speeds maturation in early life

“…Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in or on the surface of other insects. Larvae feed on the host and eventually kill it to complete their development, making parasitic wasps excellent biocontrol agents (Quicke, 1997;Shanker et al ., 2012). However, several intrinsic and extrinsic factors limit their oviposition potential.…”

“…Post eclosion, adult parasitoids ordinarily require food such as floral and extra-floral nectars or pollen to sustain foraging activity and to initiate and maintain oogenesis (Jervis et al ., 1996;Thompson, 1999). Biocontrol may often be enhanced by the provision of carbohydrates in laboratory experiments or by adding nectar producing plants to a production landscape (Wäckers, 2004;Riddick, 2007;Evans et al ., 2010;Díaz et al ., 2012;Shanker et al ., 2012).…”