Insect Viruses for Biological Control: An Ecological Approach

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Abstract
The purpose of this review is to point to the urgent need for research into the ecology of insect viruses since it may lead in some instances to a successful alternative to using insect pathogenic viruses as insecticides. The concept that insect pathogenic viruses may be manipulated in situations where some crop damage is tolerable is not novel. Such an approach demands an interdisciplinary effort to define the life cycle of the pest, the factors responsible for the natural regulation of field populations of the pest, the mechanism of virus spread in naturally occurring epizootics, the economic threshold levels of the pest population, the nature of the pathogen and the effect of different management practices and climatic conditions on the induction of epizootics and maintenance of enzootics. Such an ecological approach may lead to improved and less hazardous pest control systems.

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