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Biological Control: Measures of Success, G. Gurr, S. Wratten (Eds.)
Book reviews / Crop Protection 21 (2002) 77–80
Biological Control: Measures of Success, G. Gurr, S. Wratten (Eds.) Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordecht, 429+vi pp, d122-50, ISBN 0-412-84280-7 This a general textbook on biological control covering nearly all aspects. It is very attractively presented in a modern style and has some of the leading 27 practitioners in the field internationally as authors in the 14 chapters which are generally rather comprehensive in style. The Foreword is by Jeff Waage on behalf of the International Organization for Biological Control and the editors produce a very interesting Preface. They state that the best documented form of biological control (of arthropods by arthropods), show that only around 10 per cent of attempts are successfulFand that the success rate has changed little for a century. This must be concerning for any commercial organisations thinking of becoming involved in exploitation, coupled with the editors observations that biological control can cause harm, especially if the agent attacks a non-target organism of conservation or economic value. However, it is critical to be pragmatic in this area rather than to perpetuate so much of the hype which has often been characteristic of the field. The book starts with a very interesting historical perspective which inevitably focuses on insects primarily, leading into three chapters on various aspects of arthropod biocontrol. Then follows the success story of terrestrial mollusc biocontrol which has certainly been exploited commercially. Weed control is covered with chapters on the use of arthropods and pathogens (bioherbicides). The successful work in recent years in New Zealand on the use of soil-dwelling insects by pathogens and nematodes is covered along with two other chapters on the control of vertebrate pests. There is only one chapter on the biological control of plant pathogens and this even includes plant pathogenic nematodes as targets; it is nevertheless an excellent and most comprehensive chapter. However the discus-
Biocontrol Potential and its Exploitation in Sustainable Agriculture, Volume 1 Crop Diseases, Weeds and Nematodes. R.K. Upadhyay, K.G. Mukerji, B.P. Chamola (Eds.) Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 294+xii pp, d86-25, ISBN 0-306-46460-8 Many books have been written on biocontrol. This collection of essays is as classical in its approach as any I have seen on this topic. The production of the book is similarly classical in style, with very few figures, diagrams and tables. The formatting is also rather flat. So what is different about this book that could tempt
79
sion is on the use of wild-type antagonists, which is the realistic route to exploitation. It has to be said however that there has been an enormous interest over the past decade on the use of genetically modified organisms, which gets little attention and whereas the regulatory and public perception barriers are set high against exploitation, there has been some very interesting science carried out. Much of this has been directed towards the development of GM plants, for example one of the major genes exploited has been the Bt toxin coming from conventional biocontrol. GM plants are not usually referred to as biocontrol but this has to be a moot point. The hard reality is that Bt has been the most successful microbial control agent and there are many genes involved in producing the various toxins such that resistance with the bacterial product is almost unknown. The single gene strategy with GM plants is far more risky in terms of resistance occuring, coupled of course to the tremendous public concern, especially in Europe. The final chapters cover non-target effects and a synthesis for the future. This is a very well written text and should not only be read by scientists, but also by policy makers and investors for it is a brutally frank and balanced account of the realities of biocontrol. My only fear is that the view could be taken that so much cash has been invested in the past century and the market impact is still small so why invest more. I hope this is not the case because as we inevitably have to increasingly consider sustainability of the environment, the place of biocontrol with sensible price-support systems could be enormous.
J.M. Lynch School of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 2 1 9 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 7 6 - X
anybody into a purchase? The principal factor is that the three editors are Indian, the 42 contributors are Indian, and all the works described appears to have been done in India. Most of the Indian workers who have published internationally in this field are included in the book as authors. Simply to describe work from India is not of course in itself a good enough reason to purchase the book. However, Indian agriculture has some of their best illustrations of sustainability in the world. Biocontrol is potentially a very important component of sustainability and therefore it has much higher chance of being adopted where agricultural systems are driven in that direction. In India rural
Biological Control: Measures of Success, G. Gurr, S. Wratten (Eds.) Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordecht, 429+vi pp, d122-50, ISBN 0-412-84280-7 This a general textbook on biological control covering nearly all aspects. It is very attractively presented in a modern style and has some of the leading 27 practitioners in the field internationally as authors in the 14 chapters which are generally rather comprehensive in style. The Foreword is by Jeff Waage on behalf of the International Organization for Biological Control and the editors produce a very interesting Preface. They state that the best documented form of biological control (of arthropods by arthropods), show that only around 10 per cent of attempts are successfulFand that the success rate has changed little for a century. This must be concerning for any commercial organisations thinking of becoming involved in exploitation, coupled with the editors observations that biological control can cause harm, especially if the agent attacks a non-target organism of conservation or economic value. However, it is critical to be pragmatic in this area rather than to perpetuate so much of the hype which has often been characteristic of the field. The book starts with a very interesting historical perspective which inevitably focuses on insects primarily, leading into three chapters on various aspects of arthropod biocontrol. Then follows the success story of terrestrial mollusc biocontrol which has certainly been exploited commercially. Weed control is covered with chapters on the use of arthropods and pathogens (bioherbicides). The successful work in recent years in New Zealand on the use of soil-dwelling insects by pathogens and nematodes is covered along with two other chapters on the control of vertebrate pests. There is only one chapter on the biological control of plant pathogens and this even includes plant pathogenic nematodes as targets; it is nevertheless an excellent and most comprehensive chapter. However the discus-
Biocontrol Potential and its Exploitation in Sustainable Agriculture, Volume 1 Crop Diseases, Weeds and Nematodes. R.K. Upadhyay, K.G. Mukerji, B.P. Chamola (Eds.) Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 294+xii pp, d86-25, ISBN 0-306-46460-8 Many books have been written on biocontrol. This collection of essays is as classical in its approach as any I have seen on this topic. The production of the book is similarly classical in style, with very few figures, diagrams and tables. The formatting is also rather flat. So what is different about this book that could tempt
79
sion is on the use of wild-type antagonists, which is the realistic route to exploitation. It has to be said however that there has been an enormous interest over the past decade on the use of genetically modified organisms, which gets little attention and whereas the regulatory and public perception barriers are set high against exploitation, there has been some very interesting science carried out. Much of this has been directed towards the development of GM plants, for example one of the major genes exploited has been the Bt toxin coming from conventional biocontrol. GM plants are not usually referred to as biocontrol but this has to be a moot point. The hard reality is that Bt has been the most successful microbial control agent and there are many genes involved in producing the various toxins such that resistance with the bacterial product is almost unknown. The single gene strategy with GM plants is far more risky in terms of resistance occuring, coupled of course to the tremendous public concern, especially in Europe. The final chapters cover non-target effects and a synthesis for the future. This is a very well written text and should not only be read by scientists, but also by policy makers and investors for it is a brutally frank and balanced account of the realities of biocontrol. My only fear is that the view could be taken that so much cash has been invested in the past century and the market impact is still small so why invest more. I hope this is not the case because as we inevitably have to increasingly consider sustainability of the environment, the place of biocontrol with sensible price-support systems could be enormous.
J.M. Lynch School of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 2 1 9 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 7 6 - X
anybody into a purchase? The principal factor is that the three editors are Indian, the 42 contributors are Indian, and all the works described appears to have been done in India. Most of the Indian workers who have published internationally in this field are included in the book as authors. Simply to describe work from India is not of course in itself a good enough reason to purchase the book. However, Indian agriculture has some of their best illustrations of sustainability in the world. Biocontrol is potentially a very important component of sustainability and therefore it has much higher chance of being adopted where agricultural systems are driven in that direction. In India rural