invasive species

The myths and realities of Biological Pest Control

DSC_0116 A commonly held opinion when talking about traditional biological control, is that it is difficult to find successful stories without undesirable side effects. Prof. Christian Borgemeister from the International Center of Insect Physiology and insect Ecology (ICIPE) believes the contrary and he even challenged the audience to give him a recent example of biological control that “went out of control”. “Yes”, he added, “only in the best case scenarios traditional bio-control (BC) works as a stand-alone solution and often it has to be combined with other compatible and “bio-rational” interventions. However, we cannot deny that insects and other organisms deliver a critical environmental service in terms of pest control. ” The problem seems to be that the discussion about BC has been dominated by early mistakes while successfully improved techniques are overlooked; or in the words of Prof. Borgemeister “there is a gap between myths and reality”. Bio-control on the margin
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