Biological control of pests, weeds, and plant and animal diseases utilising their
natural antagonists is a well-established but rapidly evolving field of applied ecology. Despite its documented applications and systematic development efforts for
longer than a century, biological control still remains a grossly underexploited
method of pest management. Its untapped potential represents the best hope to
providing lasting, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable control of most
problem pests in agriculture, and of invasive alien organisms threatening global
biodiversity. Based on the overwhelmingly positive features of biological control, it
is the prime candidate in the search for reducing dependency on chemical pesticides.
Public demand for finding solutions based on biological control is the main driving
force in the rapid developments in the various strategies of utilising natural enemies
for controlling noxious organisms. This book series is intended to accelerate these
developments through exploring the progress made within the various aspects of
biological control, and via documenting these advances to the benefit of fellow
scientists, students, public officials, and the public at large. Each of the books in this
series is expected to provide a comprehensive, authoritative synthesis of the topic,
likely to stand the test of time.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6417