During this decade, in the US, the Missouri State Entomologist C. īiological control techniques as we know them today started to emerge in the 1870s. The practice was later reported by Ling Biao Lu Yi (late Tang Dynasty or Early Five Dynasties), in Ji Le Pian by Zhuang Jisu ( Southern Song Dynasty), in the Book of Tree Planting by Yu Zhen Mu ( Ming Dynasty), in the book Guangdong Xing Yu (17th century), Lingnan by Wu Zhen Fang (Qing Dynasty), in Nanyue Miscellanies by Li Diao Yuan, and others. The ants used are known as huang gan ( huang = yellow, gan = citrus) ants ( Oecophylla smaragdina). Without such ants, southern citrus fruits will be severely insect-damaged'. 304 AD), attributed to Western Jin dynasty botanist Ji Han (嵇含, 263–307), in which it is mentioned that ' Jiaozhi people sell ants and their nests attached to twigs looking like thin cotton envelopes, the reddish-yellow ant being larger than normal. The first report of the use of an insect species to control an insect pest comes from ' Nanfang Caomu Zhuang' (南方草木狀 Plants of the Southern Regions) (c. However, the practice has previously been used for centuries. DeBach (1914–1993) who worked on citrus crop pests throughout his life. It was brought into more widespread use by the entomologist Paul H. The term 'biological control' was first used by Harry Scott Smith at the 1919 meeting of the Pacific Slope Branch of the American Association of Economic Entomologists, in Riverside, California.

3.5 Combined use of parasitoids and pathogens.

Biological control agents of weeds include seed predators, herbivores, and plant pathogens.īiological 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. Biological control agents of plant diseases are most often referred to as antagonists. Natural enemies of insect pests, also known as biological control agents, include predators, parasitoids, pathogens, and competitors.

There are three basic strategies for biological pest 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.

It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. 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 agentīiological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms.

Biocontrol agents examples