What is the biological control?

Biological control is the use of living organisms to suppress pest populations, making them less damaging than they would otherwise be. Natural enemies of insects play an important role in limiting the densities of potential pests. These natural enemies include predators, parasitoids, and pathogens.

What are the three parts of a biological control system?

The components of a negative feedback are the sensor (or sensory receptor), the control center (where the set point is), and the effector. See figure 1.3. 2 below.

What is used for biological control?

Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil-dwelling bacterium, is the most widely applied species of bacteria used for biological control, with at least four sub-species used against Lepidopteran (moth, butterfly), Coleopteran (beetle) and Dipteran (true fly) insect pests.

What are the benefits of biological control?

Advantages of biological control?

• environmentally friendly because it causes no pollution and affects only the target (invasive) plant.
• self-perpetuating or self-sustaining and therefore permanent.
• cost-effective.

What are the three advantage of biological control?

Advantages of biological control An effective agent will search out all suitable plants of the weed. Biological control has no adverse effect on human health or the environment. Biological control is self-sustaining.

How is biological control implemented?

Approaches to Biological Control. There are three general approaches to biological control; importation, augmentation and conservation of natural enemies. Each of these techniques can be used either alone or in combination in a biological control program.

What is the advantages and disadvantages of biological control?

Biological control can either be less or more expensive than pesticides. You can incur significant expense studying, choosing, testing and breeding a bioagent. However, in cases in which bioagents are applied to low-level pest populations, pest control can be long-term and inexpensive.

What is the goal of biocontrol?

The aim of biocontrol is not to eradicate the invasive species, but control it in a way that it becomes manageable. In other words, the method uses nature’s own in-built mechanisms to ensure equilibrium.