Ecosystem services provided by natural enemies Agroforestry Ecology

Online access • LINK
Password • scientia

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 to manage pests. The ultimate goal of biological control is to suppress pest population and damage without pesticide or with reduced pesticide use. 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.

Determining predator characteristics for later use in biological control programs is a difficult task. To this end, it will be essential to develop studies that allow us to decide whether this candidate can be used in biological control programs. In this presentation, we will share some work we have developed that allowed us to evaluate biological and ecological characteristics of some natural enemies.