An ecological and societal approach to biological control / edited by J. Eilenberg and H. M. T. Hokkanen

Incluye bibliografía e indice: páginas 311-317

Contributors.. Preface.. 1. Concepts and visions of biological control.. 2. Socioeconomic significance of biological control.. 3. Biological control in organic production: first choice or last option?.. 4. Food consumption, risk perception and alternative production technologies.. 5. Education in biological control at the university level at KVL.. 6. Implementation of biological control and IPM in Dutch horticulture.. 7. Biocontrol in protected crops: is lack of biodiversity a limiting factor?.. 8. The soil as a reservoir for antagonists to plant diseases.. 9. The soil as a reservoir for natural enemies of pest insects and mites with emphasis on fungi and nematodes.. 10. Degeneration of entomogenous fungi.. 11. Biological control of mosquitoes: management of the Upper Rhine mosquito population as a model programme.. 12. Biological control of scarabs and weevils in Christmas trees and greenery plantations.. 13. An integrated approach to biological control of plant diseases and weeds in Europe.. 14. Potential health problems due to exposure in handling and using biological control agents.. 15. Harmonia axyridis: A succesful biocontrol agent or an invasive threat ?.. Index

Biological control is among the most promising methods for control of pests, diseases and weeds. It has shown its potential in many agricultural, horticultural and forestry systems and also in situations where the targets are vectors of human diseases or nuisance pests. Yet biological control has not reached its full potential. Several recent textbooks have addressed issues of relevance for the success of biological control: selection of candidate organisms, application methods, formulation of products, and non-target effects. Our approach in this book is to evaluate biological control from an ecological and societal perspective. In an ecological approach the aim is to evaluate the significance of certain biological properties like biodiversity and also to look on habitats as natural reservoirs. Further, it is important to see biological control from an organic (or ecological) farming point of view. The reason for the societal approach is also obvious: terms like 'consumer's attitude', 'risk perception', 'learning and education' and 'value triangle' are recognised as very significant for biological production and human welfare and biological control should be subjected to studies from these perspectives. We have carefully selected authors to cover the above mentioned themes. eng

We chose to focus on European conditions, so the specific cases as well as the author's affiliations particularly reflect aspects of biological control in this region. This is not to ignore the interesting cases and experiences from other parts of the world. We feel, however, that there are so many valid Chapter 1 outlines the general concepts for biological control. The four complementary strategies are described and further, this chapter was used by all authors as a reference to ensure a uniform use of terms throughout the book. Chapter 2 reviews the socioeconomic benefits of biological control and examples of societal benefits are given. In modern agriculture, organic farming is a very successful environmentally friendly production method. Is biological control always an integral element in organic farming, or is it only recommended in certain cases? This very interesting question is discussed in chapter 3. The consumer is regarded as a driving force in technological development and chapter 4 will, for the first time, provide an insight into how consumers perceive biological control. Then, chapter 5 analyses educational aspects at a university level and experiences from Denmark are presented. The competences of students who have participated in biological control courses are described in a broad context. eng

Turning to the agricultural production and the farmer's attitude, chapter 6 outlines the experience from the Netherlands, where there has been a long history of implementing biological control within integrated pest management in glasshouses. Chapter 7 keeps the focus on glasshouses, although the ecological potential and limitations are reviewed here. The next two chapters, 8 and 9, evaluate the soil as a reservoir for naturally occurring beneficial organisms. The soil is a fantastic reservoir for both antagonists to plant diseases and for natural enemies of insects. Despite the natural potential of, for example, entomogenous fungi, there are certain biological limitations, for example attenuation, which is illustrated in chapter 10. Three chapters are novel case studies, illustrating rather different challenges and approaches. Mosquitoes, which are nuisance pests in the Rhine Valley, are successfully controlled using Bacillus thuringiensis. The case, which is reviewed in chapter 11, obviously included many societal questions to solve: how to organise the application at the regional level and how to get the control financed. The theme of chapter 12 is some high value crops, Christmas trees and greenery plantations, which have recently been subjected to biological control. The high product price for producers and the high public attention to these crops support a future biological control. The aims of a recently initiated EU co-operation project on biological control of plant diseases and weeds are described in chapter 13. Such co-operative projects are complex and the partner's need, besides addressing the biological challenges, to consider carefully the management and dissemination of results. eng