Progress in Biological Control

Biological control of pests, weeds, and plant and animal diseases utilising their natural antagonists is a well-established but rapidly evolving field of applied ecology. Despite its documented applications and systematic development efforts for longer than a century, biological control still remains a grossly underexploited method of pest management. Its untapped potential represents the best hope to providing lasting, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable control of most problem pests in agriculture, and of invasive alien organisms threatening global biodiversity.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive features of biological control, it is the prime candidate in the search for reducing dependency on chemical pesticides. Public demand for finding solutions based on biological control is the main driving force in the rapid developments in the various strategies of utilising natural enemies for controlling noxious organisms. This book series is intended to accelerate these developments through exploring the progress made within the various aspects of biological control, and via documenting these advances to the benefit of fellow scientists, students, public officials, and the public at large. Each of the books in this series is expected to provide a comprehensive, authoritative synthesis of the topic, likely to stand the test of time.