Conservation biological control of arthropod pests: techniques and state of art

Abstract

Paredes, D., Campos, M., Cayuela, L. (2013). Conservation biological control of arthropod pests: techniques and state of art. Ecosistemas22(1):56-61. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2013.22-1.10

Conservation biological control is positioning as an alternative to the use of chemical pesticides to control arthropod pest outbreaks. The use of this strategy is orientated to increasing the abundance and diversity of the community of natural enemies by means of different techniques. However, it is observed that the increase of these parameters has not always a direct impact on the suppression of crop pests. Ecological processes such as intraguild predation, functional redundancy and niche complementarity could explain the failure or success of the practices of conservation biological control. The fact that biodiversity cannot determine the achievement of biological pest control, has triggered a shift towards the determination of functional diversity, which includes the biological traits of the natural enemy community. The ultimate goal is to identify the optimal composition of the community that controls the populations of arthropod pests effectively.