Conservation Biological Control as an Important Tool in the Neotropical Region

Abstract

The history and recent developments of conservation biological control (CBC) in the context of industrialized and small-scale agriculture are discussed from theoretical framework available in the Neotropical region. A historical perspective is presented in terms of the transition of the way pests have been controlled since ancestral times, while some of these techniques persist in some areas cultivated on a small-scale agriculture. The context of industrialized agriculture sets the stage for the transition from chemical pesticides promoted in the green revolution to the more modern concept of IPM and finds in conservation biological an important strategy in relation to more sustainable pest management options meeting new consumer demands for cleaner products and services. However, it also noted that conservation, considered within a more integrative approach, establishes its foundations on an overall increase in floral biodiversity, that is, transversal to both small-scale and industrialized areas. In the latter case, we present examples where industrialized agriculture is implementing valuable efforts in the direction of conservation and new technologies are envisioned within more sustainable plant production systems and organizational commitment having that conservation biological control has become instrumental to environmental management plans. In addition, a metanalysis on the principal organisms associated with conservation efforts is presented. Here, we found that hymenopteran parasitoids resulted in the most studied group, followed by predators, where arachnids constitute a well-represented group, while predatory vertebrates are neglected in terms of reports on CBC. Our final remarks describe new avenues of research needed and highlight the need of cooperation networks to propose research, public outreach, and adoption as strategic to educate costumers and participants on the importance of conservation as main tool in sustainable pest management. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13744-022-01005-1.

The Population Dynamics and Parasitism Rates of Ceratitis capitata, Anastrepha fraterculus, and Drosophila suzukii in Non-Crop Hosts: Implications for the Management of Pest Fruit Flies

“…Non-crop hosts can also provide various ecological services to neighboring agricultural environments, including maintaining and amplifying the numbers of beneficial insects, such as parasitoids [31]. Therefore, biological control properly used in natural environments may be a valuable option for long-term, landscape-level management of insect pests [32][33][34][35].…”

Implications of the Niche Partitioning and Coexistence of Two Resident Parasitoids for Drosophila suzukii Management in Non-Crop Areas

“…Likewise, Kruitwagen et al [ 69 ] and Jarret et al [ 70 ], in studies based on experimental adaptation studies of resident parasitoids to the invasive D. suzukii , pointed out that both T. anastrephae and P. vindemiae might offer a greater potential to control SWD natural populations over larval parasitoids. Consequently, combining the two resident parasitoid species in wild non-crop environments may be an advisable alternative for local SWD management, either through augmentative releases [ 20 ] or through a conservation biological control program [ 71 ]. It is worth analyzing this initiative from an area-wide SWD management approach, as suggested by Garcia et al [ 11 ], Rossi-Stacconi et al [ 20 ], Garcia [ 21 ], Wang et al [ 22 ].…”

Biological Control as Part of the Soybean Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Potential and Challenges

“…Among LA procedures, CBC is highlighted for its beneficial impact on agroecosystems from both ecological and economic standpoints [2,11]. CBC is based on preserving and improving natural biological control by maintaining a habitat that can sustain natural enemies [22]. The concept of CBC neither necessarily excludes other types of pest management nor the introduction of other biological control agents via ABC strategies [23].…”