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Significance of the Type of Host Plant Crop in Successful Biological Control of Insect Pests

Abstract

RECENT publications1–3 on the status of biological control of insect pests have revealed widely divergent opinions on the potentialities of this method of pest suppression. The fact that in the past a high percentage of successful results has occurred in tropical islands led Taylor1 to conclude that “there is little future for it in continental areas”, and to re-emphasize an earlier thesis of Imms4, to the effect that only such insular conditions are basically suited for this technique. This opinion was rejected by Simmonds2, whose point of view is supported by Clausen3,5 on the basis of reviews of work done in North America during the past twenty-five years.

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LLOYD, D. Significance of the Type of Host Plant Crop in Successful Biological Control of Insect Pests. Nature 187, 430–431 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/187430a0

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