Understanding and Manipulating Plant Attributes to Enhance Biological Control

b t T a e t n fi b This paper demonstrates the necessity to consider lants as an essential and interactive component of iological control practices. Plants not only possess irect chemical and morphological defenses against erbivores but also benefit from indirect defenses rovided by parasitoids and predators, which use erbivores as hosts or prey. Plants play an active role n the interplay between entomophagous arthropods nd herbivores and actually mediate many of the nteractions, thereby influencing the intensity of proection received. Herein, we review how plant atributes influence natural enemy efficiency by providng shelter, mediating host/prey accessibility, providing ost/prey finding cues, influencing host/prey suitabilty, mediating host/prey availability, and providing upplemental food sources for natural enemies. In ight of this crucial role, we suggest ways of manipulatng morphological and chemical attributes of crop lants for a more sustainable and balanced control of nsect pests in agro-ecosystems. r 2000 Academic Press