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Conservation biological control research is strongly uneven across trophic levels and economic measures
Author(s) -
Johnson Anne C,
Liu Jian,
Reynolds Olivia,
Furlong Michael J,
Mo Jianhua,
Rizvi Syed,
Gurr Geoff M
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
pest management science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.296
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1526-4998
pISSN - 1526-498X
DOI - 10.1002/ps.6162
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , biological pest control , trophic level , natural enemies , natural resource economics , control (management) , biology , environmental resource management , ecology , economics , computer science , management , programming language
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. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry