The abundance and distribution of insect herbivores is determined by, among other things, plant quality and natural enemies. These two factors vary temporally and spatially, subsequently affecting seasonal population dynamics. The relative influence of plant quality and natural enemies on the seasonal dynamics of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) was investigated in a 3-yr field study in cotton. Plant...

factors hindering the development of inundative biological control are insect rearing costs and provide an adequate amount of natural enemies at the appropriate time. storage of natural enemies is a useful technique to increase time flexibility of parasitoids production, and coincide the natural enemies release with pest outbreaks period, and also could reduce costs of mass production. another ...

Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) is a major pest of potato, (Solanum tuberosum L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and peppers (Capsicum spp.). The purpose of our research was to identify and determine the impact of natural enemies on B. cockerelli population dynamics. Through 2 yr of field studies (2009-2010) at four different sites and laboratory feeding tests, we ident...

In this paper, we study the prophylactic biological control strategy for greenhouse crops protection. The method consists in the preventive installation of natural enemies to fight against an invading pest, using discrete augmentative (i.e. inondative) releases of the natural enemies. We consider a simple non negative prey (pest) predator (natural enemy) model in ordinary differential equations...

Biological control of pests by natural enemies is a major ecosystem service delivered to agriculture worldwide. Quantifying and predicting its effectiveness at large spatial scales is critical for increased sustainability of agricultural production. Landscape complexity is known to benefit natural enemies, but its effects on interactions between natural enemies and the consequences for crop dam...

The importance of mutualism is receiving more attention in community ecology. In this study, the fire ant Solenopsis invicta was found to take advantage of the shelters constructed by the leaf roller Sylepta derogata to protect mealybugs (Phenacoccus solenopsis) against their natural enemies. This protective effect of fire ant tending on the survival of mealybugs in shelters was observed when e...

The impact of commonly used organophosphate (chlorpyrifos, methamidophos), carbamate (carbaryl), and pyrethroid (cypermethrin) insecticides on insect natural enemies was compared with that of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (Baculoviridae) of Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) in maize grown in southern Mexico. Analyses of the SELECTV and Koppert Side Effects (IOBC) databases on...

This review uses a data-driven, quantitative method to summarize the published, peer-reviewed literature about the impact of genetically modified (GM) plants on arthropod natural enemies in laboratory experiments. The method is similar to meta-analysis, and, in contrast to a simple author-vote counting method used by several earlier reviews, gives an objective, data-driven summary of existing k...

Pesticides are essential tools in integrated pest management (IPM) programs which can have the great influence if they are used properly. However, the adverse impacts of these compounds on the environment and ecosystem should not be ignored. The ecological effects of pesticides can be discussed from different points of view. Some of the significant consequences of use of pesticides are side eff...