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Biological Control

By
Wasnaa H. Mohammed
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Introduction

 The biological control of pests essentially means making use

of the natural enemies of animals or plants to contain the
population of that pest.
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Introduction

 This control method has been around for over 100 years but
has recently become more popular reducing chemical means
of control. Why do you think this is so?
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From Chemical to Biological

 In the mid 1900’s, farmers almost totally depended on

chemicals for crop protection. This led to concerns about the
environmental effects of such chemicals, their costs to
farmers and the health hazards they posed to workers and
others.
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From Chemical to Biological

 Along with the growing concerns insects were rapidly

developing resistance to organic pesticides which
encouraged farmers to use more potent chemicals. Rachel
Carson wrote a book which highlighted the issues relating to
the use of chemicals. This helped motivate people to develop
better means of crop protection.
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From Chemical to Biological

 There are however some disadvantages of biological

control:
 More intensive management and planning
 Can take more time
 Requires a greater understanding of the biology of the pest and
it’s enemies
 Results are generally not amazing or quick as pesticides
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From Chemical to Biological

 Today most farmers use integrated pest management

strategies to control pests in which biological control can play
a significant role. The major advantages of biological control
over pesticide include:
 It can be very specific for a particular pest and no collateral
damage sustained
 More economical
 Does not result in public health risks
 Less danger of impact on the environment
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Conditions for Biological Control

 In order for the biological control agent to be successful it

must be target specific and be able to survive and
reproduce successfully in it’s new environment. The most
successful cases involved a lot of research before being
used.
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Types of Biological Control

 There are three main types of Biological Control:

 Classical
 Augmentation
 Conservation

Classical Biological Control involves travelling to the pest species'

country of origin, researching it’s natural enemies, collecting and
introducing these natural enemies to the location where the pest
species is causing problems. This can be very successful or very
unsuccessful.
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Types of Biological Control

 Augmentation is trying to increase the natural enemies of

the pest species. This approach requires continual human
management and does not provide a permanent solution.

 Conservation involves identifying any factors that limit the

effectiveness of the natural enemies of the pest and
changing these limiting factors to help the beneficial
species.
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Controlling Biologically

 Several methods of biological control do not rely on a

predator-prey relationship. We are going to look at a few
of such methods:
 Microbial control
 Plant immunisation
 Pest behaviour-modifying chemicals
 Genetic manipulation
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Microbial Control

 This method involves the use of disease causing bacteria,

viruses, fungi or nematodes as control agents. Careful
research is involved to insure the disease acts only on certain
insects or pests. Different methods are used to insure the
target species consumes the agent which will result in them
dying within a few days.
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Plant Immunisation

 This method is currently being researched. It involves

microbes or chemicals to raise the level of pest resistance in
plants. For example, genes that naturally produce toxins in
some plants are inserted into ‘new’ plants, such as cotton,
which results in the new plant naturally producing the toxin
which rejects pests.
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Genetic Manipulation

 This involves genetically altering a pest species DNA and then

releasing the altered organisms into the wild. For example,
the male screw worm fly is modified so that they become
sterile preventing the production of offspring.
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Habitat Rehabilitation: The Bradley Method

 Rehabilitating degraded land

to restore ecosystems is
becoming more practiced
around the world. By
reclaiming natural ecosystems
from introduced species and
restoring them to their former
function.
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Habitat Rehabilitation: The Bradley Method

 A method of weed control developed by sisters Eileen

and Joan Bradley in Sydney (Bradley Method) involves
hand-weeding without replanting selected small areas.
This allows each area to be reinhabited and stabilised by
native plants. This has been so successful it’s being used all
over the world.
 This method is different from conventional weeding
approaches. The basis is to allow the native species to
recolonise for the ecological balance away from the
weeds and toward the native species.
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Case Study: Prickly Pear

 A successful use of Classical Biological Control happened in

Australia with the eradication of the introduced prickly pear
cactus. This plant was introduced to Australia in the 1800’s as
an ornamental garden.
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Case Study: Prickly Pear

 The prickly pear reproduces very efficiently and rapidly

escaped from gardens. Within 100 years of its introduction it
occupied 40,000 square kilometres. By 1925 it occupied over
125,000 square kilometres of grazing land.
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Case Study: Prickly Pear

 In 1920 the Australian Government built a team to

investigate how to solve this growing problem. The team
went to the United States where the prickly pear is native
and researched its natural enemies.
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Case Study: Prickly Pear

 Over 13 years this team sent back and trialled a number of

insect species, the most effective was the larvae of the
Argentine Moth (Cactoblastis Cactorum). Cactoblastis
caterpillers bore into the prickly pear and eat them from the
inside out. Within two years of their introduction most of the
prickly pear was eradicated.