ENTOMOLOGY 10

Insects as Food

  1. Entomophagy
    1. Kinds of insects
      1. 500 species
      2. Termites, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, and caterpillars
    2. Nutrition (good source of protein, minerals)
    3. Advantages of insects as food
      1. Diversify diet
      2. Reduce pesticide usage
      3. Cultivate insects; less damaging than cultivating cattle, sheep
      4. Insects efficient in food conversion to protein
      5. Food for astronauts
  2. Feed for domesticated animals
    1. Fish food
    2. Chicken feed

Suggested Readings: Gullan and Cranston: pp 3-7 (Insects as food)

Biological Control

  1. Introduction
    1. Natural control - definition
    2. Biological control - the study and utilization of parasitoids, predators, and pathogens (natural enemies) for the regulation of host population densities.
  2. Classical Biological Control
    1. Alien pest
    2. Native home for natural enemies (NE)
      1. Importation
      2. Host specificity or no deleterious effects on nontarget organisms
      3. Release
      4. Evaluate
  3. Conservation - preserve naturally occurring NE; avoid measures that adversely affect NE
  4. Augmentation - culture and release of established NE
  5. NE for Biological Control of Insect Pests
      1. Predators
      2. Parasitoids
      3. Vertebrates (fishes, toads, birds; some disasters)
      4. Microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, nematodes)
        1. Registration with Environmental Protection Agency
        2. Safe to humans
      5. Generalists Vs specialists
  6. Case History - Cottony cushion scale in California
    1. Citrus
    2. Native home - Australia
    3. Vedalia beetle
    4. Parasitic fly
  7. Commercially Available Biological Control Agents (few examples)
    1. Praying mantid eggs and lady beetles
    2. Mealy bug destroyer
    3. Trichogramma wasps
    4. Bacillus thuringiensis (bacterium)
      1. Spores and toxins
      2. Many types - mosquito larvae, caterpillars, or Colorado potato beetle
  8. Inundative Releases Vs Inoculative Releases
    1. Inundative releases
      1. Biological insecticide - commercially available
      2. Short-term control
      3. Repeated application(s)
      4. Examples: Trichogramma wasps for lepidopterous eggs
        Bacillus thuringiensis for caterpillars
    2. Inoculative releases
      1. Colonization
      2. Permanent control
      3. Occasional releases
      4. Example: Mealy bug destroyer on citrus
  9. Advantages of Biological Control
    1. Permanent control
    2. Environmentally safe
    3. No effect on nontarget organisms including humans and plants
    4. No secondary outbreaks (host specific)
    5. Inexpensive (over the long term)
    6. No resistance to predators or parasitoids (coevolution)
  10. Disadvantages of Biological Control
    1. Many generations before pest is controlled (lag effect)
    2. New equilibrium position remains above economic threshold
    3. Host specific - other pests occur on crops
    4. Time of parasitization/infection to death long
  11. Success of Biological Control Programs
    1. 2000 introductions of parasitoids and predators
    2. 34% successful establishments
  12. Biological Control of Weeds
    1. Klamath weed (St. John’s Wort) and Klamath beetle
    2. Opuntia (cactus) and Cactoblastis caterpillar
  13. Biological Control Controversies
    1. Impact on native insects and weeds
    2. Impact on other nontargets and birds
    3. Faunistic changes

Suggested Readings: Gullan and Cranston: pp. 263-266; pp413-420. Scan pp. 324-350.

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