Historical, Theoretical, and Philosophical Bases of Biological Insect Pest Suppression

Abstract

The practice of various biological methods of insect pest suppression has gained increasing acceptance, indeed popularity, in very recent years. A number of stimuli have led to this situation, not the least of which is the overall popular environmental awareness which followed the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962. But, as we shall see, an elegant and complex concept like biological insect pest suppression does not gain stature and prominence overnight, nor does it spring full-flower from the mind of any single person. Historically, the growth of the discipline was slow and sometimes painful; it is studded with a few sparkling success stories, some disappointments, and many unheralded applications that are highly successful, but doomed to obscurity because of that very success. Indeed, the results of a successful program of biological pest suppression are not very impressive unless the situation can be compared to that which existed previously. In the following three chapters we shall touch on some of the highlights in the development of the ideas and practices of “classical” biological insect pest suppression—this is, the directed use of parasitoids, predators, and pathogenic microorganisms to reduce and regulate insect pest populations to subeconomic levels. Some of the more recently developed aspects and agencies of biological insect pest suppression are dealt with in greater detail later (Part 4).