A Fusion of Ideas

Abstract

By this point it should be clear to the reader that biological insect pest suppression, as it is construed in modern parlance, is no longer the unified concept it once was. Classical biological control concerned itself only with the utilization, introduction, or encouragement of parasitoids, predators, and pathogenic microorganisms. While this approach is still the most effective, practical, and widely applicable biological method at our disposal, the growth and development of other biologically-based techniques of pest suppression are most encouraging. Biological insect pest suppression specialists no longer consider the introduction of beneficial organisms as the only weapon in their arsenal; no more than other crop protection specialists can afford to look only to pesticides as a universal cure-all. Instead, all responsible and knowledgeable workers in the field have come to recognize the wisdom, even the necessity, of giving consideration to as many different alternative suppressive techniques as are available, and designing an integrated system of actions especially tailored to each pest problem. Such integration may be considered from various viewpoints. For example, two or more beneficial organisms may be used harmoniously to provide a synergistic level of classical biological control (Chap. 3.7). On a slightly higher order, we may combine and coordinate the use of any number of the biological methods we have discussed previously. At a still higher level of integration, we find the major concern of modern crop protection, integrated pest suppression (Chap. 5.1).