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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.