Conservation biological control research is strongly uneven across trophic levels and economic measures

Anne C Johnson, Jian Liu, Olivia Reynolds, Michael J Furlong, Jianhua Mo, Syed Rizvi, Geoff Gurr

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Conservation biological control suppresses pests by promoting established rather than inoculative or mass released natural enemies. Research in this approach has expanded rapidly this century but uptake remains limited. Why? Most of the 150 peer reviewed papers reporting field experiments include results on natural enemies and/or pests. Only a minority report effects on crop damage levels or yield, and very few consider economic consequences. This is despite evidence for potential benefits across this full spectrum of response variables. We argue that the limited scope of work to date constrains the development of a compelling evidence base to demonstrate the field effectiveness of conservation biological control, hampering its uptake so encourage researchers to include the assessment of economic impact in future studies of conservation biological control. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Article number6162
Pages (from-to)2165-2169
Number of pages5
JournalPest Management Science
Volume77
Issue number5
Early online date06 Nov 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Conservation biological control research is strongly uneven across trophic levels and economic measures'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this