Editorial overview: Parasites/parasitoids/biological control (2024) — research advances on plant-derived food sources in biological control
Beneficial insects, such as biological control agents (BCAs), play a crucial role in agriculture [1,2]. A conservative study estimated the annual value of natural control attributable to beneficial insects to be about 4.5 billion dollars in the USA alone [3]. In Europe, biological control is a co...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2024
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8979 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214574524000907?via%3Dihub |
| Sumario: | Beneficial insects, such as biological control agents (BCAs), play a crucial role
in agriculture [1,2]. A conservative study estimated the annual value of natural
control attributable to beneficial insects to be about 4.5 billion dollars in the
USA alone [3]. In Europe, biological control is a cornerstone of pest management
under the new European Green Deal. Most BCAs are omnivores,
feeding on both pests and plant-derived food sources [4]. This omnivory has
led to the use of food supplements to support beneficial organisms in agricultural
systems. For example, nectar, pollen, extrafloral nectar, plant guttation,
and honeydew have been identified as important plant-derived food
sources for BCAs in ecosystems. These plant-derived products provide a rich
source of carbohydrates and proteins, significantly enhancing the success of
biological pest control. However, the availability of these food sources can be
highly variable [4], making their presence unpredictable for foraging insects.
Many of these sources are ephemeral (e.g. pollen or floral nectar), and their
quality as a food source is variable (e.g. honeydew or plant guttation) [5–7]. In
this issue, we delve deeper into these complexities, offering recent advances
on the role of plant-derived food sources for beneficial insects and the potential
for their management to enhance biological control. |
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