Meeting the growing global demand for agricultural products requires the development and use of ecologically-based strategies that will allow sustainable intensification based on ecosystem services. An important component of this approach is conservation biological control. This approach encompasses a variety of management practices that protect natural enemy populations in the agro-ecosystem and enhance their fitness and ultimate impact on pests. It represents an alternative to dependence on pesticides which is associated with environmental damage and risks to human health. The interventions used to achieve conservation biological control are commonly based on managing vegetation patterns at the local scale (e.g. flowering strips that promote parasitoids by supplying nectar) or at wider scale (e.g., woodland to serve as donor habitat for natural enemies). Importantly, such vegetation management also offers scope to provide agriculture with additional ecosystem services as diverse as pollination and carbon sequestration. Despite these attractive features and the success of a small number of conservation biological control strategies, it remains underutilized. We identify as barriers to adoption the relative complexity of conservation biological control and challenges with economic evaluation, as well as perceptions and communication. Climate change is a challenge that will demand the development of flexible strategies that can respond to changes in pest distributions and/or food web structure.
1.Lincoln Univ, Bioprotect Res Ctr, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand 2.Charles Sturt Univ, Sch Agr & Wine Sci, POB 883, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia 3.Graham Ctr, NSW Dept Primary Ind & Charles Sturt Univ, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia 4.Lincoln Univ, Fac Agribusiness & Commerce, POB 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand 5.Univ Aysen, Dept Nat Sci & Technol, Campus Rio Simpson, Coyhaique, Chile 6.Fujian Agr & Forestry Univ, State Key Lab Ecol Pest Control Fujian & Taiwan C, Inst Appl Ecol, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, Peoples R China 7.Minist Educ, Joint Int Res Lab Ecol Pest Control, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, Peoples R China 8.Fujian Agr & Forestry Univ, Fujian Taiwan Joint Innovat Ctr Ecol Control Crop, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, Peoples R China
Recommended Citation:
Shields, Morgan W.,Johnson, Anne C.,Pandey, Sunita,et al. History, current situation and challenges for conservation biological control[J]. BIOLOGICAL CONTROL,2019-01-01,131:25-35