Biological Control : Proceedings of an AAAS Symposium on Biological Control, held at Boston, Massachusetts December 30-31, 1969

The explosive increase in the world's human population, with conse­ quent need to feed an ever-increasing number of hungry mouths, and the largely resultant disturbances and pollution of the environment in which man must live and produce the things he needs, are forcing him to search for means of solving the first problem without intensifying the latter. Food production requires adequate assurance against the ravages of insects. In the last three decades short-sighted, unilateral and almost exclusive employment of synthesized chemicals for insect pest control has posed an enormous and as yet unfathomed contribution to the degradation of our environment, while our insect pest problems seem greater than ever. Properly viewed, pest control is basically a question of applied ecology, yet its practice has long been conducted with little regard to real necessity for control, and in some cases, with little regard to various detrimental side-effects or long-term advantage with respect, even, to the specific crop itself. This book deals fundamentally with these questions. The development of pesticide resistance in many of the target species, against which the pesticides are directed, has occasioned an ever-increasing load of applications and complexes of different kinds of highly toxic materials. This has been made even more "necessary" as the destruction of natural enemies has resulted, as a side effect, in the rise to pest status of many species that were formerly innocuous. The application of broad-spec­ trum pesticides thus has many serious and self-defeating features.

Section I: The Theory, Ecological Basis and Assessment of Biological Control.- 1. The Pesticide Syndrome—Diagnosis and Suggested Prophylaxis.- The Pesticide Syndrome.- The Suggested Prophylaxis.- The cotton picture.- The grape picture in California.- Conclusion.- Literature Cited.- 2. The Natural enemy Component in Natural Control and the theory of Biological Control.- Natural Control—The Balance of Nature.- The Process of Natural Control.- The concept of control by density-unrelated factors.- The concept of density-dependent regulation.- Demonstrations of characteristic abundance and density dependence.- The regulatory mechanism and the instruments.- The Nature of Regulation by Natural Enemies.- The kinds of natural enemies.- Models of host-parasite (parasitoid) or predator-prey interactions.- The functional, numerical and over-all response.- Damping processes and regulation by natural enemies.- The role of natural enemies in control, regulation, and change in density of hosts.- Challenging Concepts Relative to the Theory and Practice of Biological Control.- Species stability and community stability.- Multiple introductions versus single species introductions.- Polyphagous versus monophagous or stenophagous enemies.- Direct and indirect pests in biological control work.- The claim that biological control is an unprofitable endeavor.- The Genetic Feed-Back Principle and Biological Control.- Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- 3. The Adaptability of Introduced Biological Control Agents.- Procedures Restricting the Genetic Variability of Colonizing Stocks.- Different Natural Enemies Contemporaneously Attacking a Host in the Same Region.- Varying Performances of an Enemy in Different Ecological Situations.- Different Adaptabilities Exhibited Among Strains of a Natural Enemy.- Host-specific strains.- Differential host immunity to strains of natural enemies.- Climatic strains.- Possibilities for Improving Adaptations.- Lessons for Future Strategies.- Literature Cited.- 4. The use of Models and Life tables in Assessing the Role of Natural Enemies.- Terminology for Components of Population Models.- Objections to the Nicholson and Bailey Model.- Parasite Quest Theory.- The development of a model.- Experimental verification.- Literature Cited.- 5. Experimental Techniques for Evaluation of the effectiveness of Natural Enemies.- Selection of Test Plots.- Experimental Methods of Evaluation.- Discussion and Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- Section II: Outstanding recent Examples of Classical Biological Control.- 6. The Biological Control of weeds by Introduced Natural Enemies.- The Alligatorweed.- Puncturevine.- Lantana in Hawaii.- Prickly Pear in California.- Tansy Ragwort.- Discussion.- Literature Cited.- 7. Biological Control of coccids by Introduced Natural Enemies.- Cottony Cushion Scale in California.- Some Recent Examples of Biological Control of Scale Insects.- Florida red scale.- Olive scale.- California red scale.- Summary and Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- 8. Control of pests in glasshouse culture by the Introduction of Natural Enemies.- Some Biological Control Techniques.- Control of red spider mite.- Control of whitefly.- Control of the cotton aphid.- Control of the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulz.).- Control of the leaf-miner Phytomyza syngenesiae Hardy on chrysanthemums.- A biological control program for the pest complex on cucumbers.- Biological control system for pest complex on year-round chrysanthemums.- The commercial future of biological control in glasshouses.- Literature Cited.- 9. The Biological control of the winter moth in Eastern Canada by Introduced Parasites.- Introduction, Results, and Discussion.- Literature Cited.- 10. Biological Control of Rhodesgrass scale by Airplane releases of an Introduced Parasite of Limited Dispersing ability.- Population Regulation of Rhodesgrass Scale by N. sangwani.- Scale control and yield response in model-type experiments.- Scale control, population data, and yield response on natural range sites.- Rhodesgrass pasture longevity with bio-control.- The Development of Mass Release Procedures and the Results Obtained.- Female N. sangwani longevity.- Mobility of N. sangwani females.- Colony establishment influenced by life stages used, number of females released and timing of releases.- Results from large area distribution studies.- Discussion.- Summary.- Literature Cited.- Section III: The Unheralded Naturally-Occurring Biological Control.- 11. The importance of Naturally-Occurring Biological control in the Western United States.- Natural Ecosystems.- Coniferous forests.- Lepidoptera.- Scale insects.- Bark beetles.- Sawflies.- Oak woodland.- Chaparral biome.- Sagebrush, grasslands and range.- Agro-ecosystems.- Fruit and nut trees.- Grapes.- Alfalfa.- The alfalfa caterpillar.- The spotted alfalfa aphid.- The pea aphid.- Noctuiid moths.- Cotton.- Strawberries.- Literature Cited.- 12. Naturally-Occurring Biological Control in the Eastern United States, with particular Reference to Tobacco Insects.- Major Features of Tobacco Culture Relative to Natural Enemy Actions.- Enemies Reduce the Localized Economic Loss.- Enemies Reduce the General Pest Problem.- Enemies Tractable to Manipulation.- Enemies as Indices of Pest Population Trends.- Cryptic Enemies of Importance.- Literature Cited.- 13. Cases of Naturally-Occurring Biological control in Canada.- Case Histories.- European red mite.- Lecanium scale.- Codling moth.- Black-headed budworm.- Summary and Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- Section IV: Biological Control as a key Element in the systems approach to Pest Control.- 14. Systems analysis and pest management.- The Systems Analysis Approach.- Data processing.- Execution of ecological research.- Systems Analysis and Pest Management.- Methods and procedures for use in pest management.- Concluding Remarks and Summary.- Literature Cited.- 15. Microbial control as a tool in integrated Control Programs.- Use of Microbial Control in Integrated Control Programs.- Major considerations.- Examples of practical application.- Microbial Control Research in California.- Cotton insects.- The granulosis virus of codling moth.- Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- 16. Management of pest populations by Manipulating Densities of both hosts and parasites through Periodic Releases.- Imported Cabbageworm Experiments.- Other Cabbage Pests.- Conclusions.- Literature Cited.- 17. The Developing program of integrated control of Cotton Pests in California.- Integrated control defined.- Development of the Integrated Control Program.- Economic thresholds.- Bollworm studies.- Other lepidopterous pests.- Light trap studies.- Alternatives to chemical control.- Supervised control.- Integrated Control and the Economic Crisis in Cotton.- Literature Cited.- 18. The Developing Programs of integrated control of pests of apples in Washington and Peaches in California.- The Developing Program of Integrated Control of Pests of Apples in Washington.- Populations of mites on apple.- With standard acaricide programs.- With no spray program.- Distribution of predators and prey.- Feeding behavior of predators.- Effects of pesticides on predator numbers.- Insect and disease problems on apple.- Integrated control programs.- Mite populations without apple rust mites.- Mite populations with apple rust mites present.- Cultural practices and the integrated program.- Advantages of the integrated program.- Disadvantages of the integrated program.- Commercial use of integrated control.- The Developing Program of Integrated Control of Pests of Peaches in California.- The pest complex on peach.- Reappraisal of control techniques.- The program and results.- Oriental fruit moth and peach twig borer.- The European red mite and the two-spotted spider mite.- The predatory mite Metaseiulus occidentalis.- The peach silver mite.- Comments.- Literature Cited.- 19. Development of Integrated Control Programs for Pests of Tropical Perennial Crops in Malaysia.- Oil Palms.- Leaf-eating caterpillars.- West Malaysia.- East Malaysia.- Red spider mites.- The bunch moth.- Rhinoceros beetle.- Other pests.- Cocoa in Sabah.- Rubber in West Malaysia.- Discussion.- The need for and the manner of the integrated approach.- Illustration of some general principles of biological and integrated control.- The establishment of integrated control in the tropics.- Literature Cited.- 20. Development of Integrated Control Programs for Crop Pests in Israel.- Citrus Pests.- Cotton Pests.- Olive Pests.- Deciduous Fruit Tree Pests.- Literature Cited.- Author Index.