"Biocontrol" redirects here. For the journal on this subject, see BioControl.
Syrphus hoverfly larva (below) feed on aphids (above), making them natural biological control agents.A parasitoid wasp (Cotesia congregata) adult with pupal cocoons on its host, a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta, green background), an example of a hymenopteran biological control agent
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms.[1] 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 strategies for biological control: classical (importation), where a natural enemy of a pest is introduced in the hope of achieving control; inductive (augmentation), in which a large population of natural enemies are administered for quick pest control; and inoculative (conservation), in which measures are taken to maintain natural enemies through regular reestablishment.[2]
Natural enemies of insects play an important part in limiting the densities of potential pests. Biological control agents such as these include predators, parasitoids, pathogens, and competitors. 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 attacks on non-target species by any of the above mechanisms, especially when a species is introduced without a thorough understanding of the possible consequences.
^Flint, Maria Louise; Dreistadt, Steve H. (1998). Clark, Jack K. (ed.). Natural Enemies Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Biological Pest Control. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21801-7. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016.
^Unruh, Tom R. (1993). "Biological control". Orchard Pest Management Online, Washington State University. Archived from the original on 6 December 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
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Biologicalcontrol or biocontrol is a method of controllingpests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals...
Pestcontrol is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities...
Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pestcontrol (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical...
(family Syrphidae), which are useful as biologicalpestcontrol agents because they eat aphids and other pests. Seeds Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names...
Acmella oleracea is a species of flowering herb in the family Asteraceae. Common names include toothache plant, Szechuan buttons, paracress, jambu, buzz...
A biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seen as pests. Biologicalpest management intervention involves...
naturally control agricultural pests. Some are applied commercially in biologicalpestcontrol, starting in the 1920s with Encarsia formosa to control whitefly...
interest in further research to improve the use of green lacewings as biologicalpestcontrol. Species that have hitherto attracted wider study and are more...
considered pests, such that it can provide biologicalpestcontrol in agricultural settings. It is not solely able to suppress any populations of a pest species...
Orange oil can be used in green pesticides for biologicalpestcontrol. It can exterminate or control ants and other insects by erasing their scent-pheromone...
minutum has been investigated as a method of biologicalcontrol of the Choristoneura fumiferana, a major pest of spruce and fir forests. Nine species of...
can be used to create habitats for natural 'biologicalcontrol agents' to provide biologicalpestcontrol.[citation needed] They have roles in the tending...
been used for centuries for the biologicalpest extermination of household insects, garden pests, and agricultural pests. It is used indoors, in gardens...
primary food resource. Aphids are a known pest, so the H. convergens has been used as a method to control aphids by releasing the beetles to act as a...
Fenemore PG (2016). "Chapter 7: Mites and other non-insect pests". Plant Pests and Their Control. Elsevier. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-4831-8286-5. Harrison S, Knott...
groves. It is beneficial against non native species. An introduced Hemlock pest, the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa Ferris), which has been doing...
Sceliphron caementarium, also known as the yellow-legged mud-dauber wasp, black-and-yellow mud dauber (within the US), or black-waisted mud-dauber (outside...
farming, organic gardening or integrated pest management. Companies specializing in biologicalpestcontrol sell many types of beneficial insects, particularly...
by hunting vermin, such as rodents. They are commonly employed where pestcontrol is needed, such as barns, farms, factories, warehouses, stores, churchyards...
insects. Some of these, usually but not only wasps, are used in biologicalpestcontrol. The 17th-century zoological artist Maria Sibylla Merian closely...
Biological Sciences (IUBS), organised to promote and study biologicalpestcontrol, integrated pest management (IPM) and integrated production. The IOBC serves...
predation. Augmentative biologicalcontrol recognises that lady beetles may be present but may be insufficient in numbers to control the pest species and seeks...
that has been introduced as a biologicalpestcontrol herbivore agent to waterways and lakes in countries worldwide to control the spread of the invasive...
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