9/18/2025

BIOLOGICAL
CONTROL
Dr. SNIGDHA SAMANTA

What is Biological Control?

In nature, organism populations suffer frequent attacks and high mortality rates from
predators, parasites, parasitoids, and diseases, collectively called “natural enemies.”
Biological control tactics use natural enemies or agents (some practitioners call them
“beneficials”) to manage pests. The ultimate goal of biological control is to suppress
pest population and damage without pesticide or with reduced pesticide use. Natural
enemies are utilized differently depending on the target pest, host, environmental
condition, and pest life cycle. There are three general approaches to biological control.

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Classical Biological Control

Classical biological control refers to the practice of introducing one or a group of natural enemy
species of foreign origin to control a pest that many times is also foreign in origin (called exotic,
introduced, or invasive). Often, the natural enemies are found in the home range of the
invasive pest.

Example- Cottony cushion scale, a pest that was devastating the California citrus industry. A
predatory beetle were introduced from Australia

Some notable examples of classical biological control include the use of decapitating flies
(several Pseudacteon species) against red imported fire ants, and a group of flea beetles, Thrips, and stem
borers used against alligator weed.

Because of the long, rigorous, and costly process of finding, testing, quarantining, and rearing these
natural enemies, classical biological control programs are typically conducted by scientists at governmental
agencies or universities with public funding.

Modern classical biological control programs mandate extensive testing of the natural enemy host ranges
before introduction so that the selected natural enemies attack only the intended target pest and do not
cause harm to other non-target organisms. Once released into the environment, these selected natural
enemies spread and manage the pest population with minimal assistance and intervention from the
practitioners. The practical application of classical biological control by growers, professionals, and
consumers on ornamental plants, turf grasses, fruits, and vegetables is minimal.

Fortuitous or adventive biological control is a variant of classical biological control where natural enemies
arrive from elsewhere by their own means and control the exotic pest population. These adventive natural
enemies may have arrived with the pest or at a later time without introduction. There are also incidences
where native natural enemies switch to using invasive pests as food or host on their own.

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Augmentative Biological Control

Augmentative biological control refers to the practice of releasing biological control agents (often
mass-reared in insectaries) into an area where natural enemies are not present or present at a
number too low to suppress a pest population. The goal of augmentative biological control is to
increase the number or the effectiveness of natural enemies in an area to a level high enough to
control the pest population. This type of biological control is most often practiced in greenhouses,
nurseries, and some fruit and vegetable fields. The mass-produced biological control agents are
purchased from the suppliers and released/applied in masses into the infested area to kill the pests.
Biological control agents mass-produced by insectaries are often host-specific (i.e., they only attack
one or two kinds of pests). Therefore, practitioners need to identify the pest species accurately so
that the correct natural enemy species can be purchased for release. Depending on the pest and
biological control agent species, as well as the environment and production practices, augmentative
biological control can be achieved through inoculative releases or inundative releases.
In inoculative releases, the biological control agents are released in small numbers to establish a
population that provides long-term and sustained suppression of the pest population. In inundative
releases, the biological control agents are released in large numbers to quickly overwhelm the pest
population without the expectation of propagating the biological control agent population or
continuing the suppression of the pest population.

Conservation Biological Control

Conservation biological control refers to a collection of methods and approaches in manipulating the
habitat, plant diversity, production practice, and pest management practice to increase the population and
effectiveness of natural enemies. An area with more complex and diverse plant and animal communities is
known to have a greater diversity of natural enemies and a lower abundance of pests. Conservation
biological control practitioners often start with manipulating the farmscape or landscape, such as growing
insectary plants (i.e., plant species that can attract and retain natural enemies or provide natural enemies
with food and shelter). Natural enemy diversity, abundance, and effectiveness increase as plant diversity
and resources provided increase. Other conservation biological control practices seek to minimize impacts
of habitat manipulation or farming practices on natural enemies. For example, growers or landscape care
professionals may use mulch to provide shelters for ground beetles, or reduce pesticide use, or use
pesticides that have minimal impacts on the natural enemies (i.e., compatible pesticides).

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Biological Control as Part of an IPM Program

No pest management tactic acts independently in an IPM program. The same principle applies to biological
control tactics. For example, pest species must be accurately identified to select the correct biological control
agents or microbial products. Also, biological control is most effective against a small pest population or when
pesticides that can negatively impact the survival and functions of the biological control agents are removed
from the program. Biological control must be an integral part of an IPM program, where biological control
tactics are adopted in consideration of other tactics within the program and vice versa.
Biological control is a knowledge-intensive strategy of pest management. Successful implementation of a
biological control program requires a thorough understanding of the pests, the natural enemies, their
environment (including other pest management practices), and the interactions of all factors. Success is often
achieved after many considerations, modifications of current production, and pest management practices, as
well as trial-and-error. Despite being challenging to adopt, biological control and IPM, in general, create
benefits that contribute to building a sustainable environment and increasing profitability by reducing
management inputs.

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THANK YOU

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