Classical biological control (Chapter 3)

Description

Among today's many biological control strategies, classical biological control (CBC) is the oldest – it dates back to the nineteenth century, which explains its name. This biological control method is based on the intuitive idea that fighting an invasive population requires finding a natural enemy from its native range. CBC is therefore closely linked to biological invasions for two reasons: first, because the main principle of CBC is to combat invasive insects or plants by introducing specific natural enemies from the same native range; and second, because introductions of exotic biological control agents for CBC can be considered a "planned biological invasion" (see Chap. 1; Fauvergue et al. 2012; Marsico et al. 2010), and therefore used to analyse the factors for establishment success and failure in introduced populations. Thus, the initial idea opens the door to a lengthy scientific, technological and sociological process.In this chapter, we will discuss the different stages of this process through selected examples. The starting point of this journey is the search for natural enemies of species considered harmful because they negatively impact crops. These natural enemies, or biological control agents, are considered "beneficial"; they are used for the benefit of human activities, while the fauna and flora of the invaded areas also benefit from this sustainable and environmentally friendly control method. We detail the different stages of this long journey, which goes from studying the literature on pests and potential biological control agents to field exploration and specimen collection. We will then discuss laboratory and natural condition assessments through recent exam- ples. But first, we will start with a short history and definition of our discipline.

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