biological control

noun

1. the control of pests by interference with their ecological status, as by introducing a natural enemy or a pathogen into the environment.

biological control

noun

1. the control of destructive organisms by the use of other organisms, such as the natural predators of the pests

biological control

1. Control of pests by disrupting their ecological status, as through the use of organisms that are natural predators, parasites, or pathogens. Examples of biocontrol include the use of ladybugs to prey on aphids and scale insects and the treatment of turf with spores of the bacterium Bacillus popilliae , which cause milky disease in Japanese beetle larvae.

Word History and Origins

Origin of biological control¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

The team plans to further explore the promise of mycoviruses as a biological control tool across different species and environmental conditions.

From Science Daily

"They can result in an expansion of their geographic distribution, increased survival during overwintering, increased number of generations, altered synchrony between plants and pests, altered interspecific interaction, increased risk of invasion by migratory pests, increased incidence of insect-transmitted plant diseases, and reduced effectiveness of biological control, especially natural enemies."

From Salon

"This is the positive message. Solving the puzzle of biological control of ice formation drives scientists to collaborate," Molinero said.

From Science Daily

"Bacteria are able to hop into these eukaryotes and leverage some of those mechanisms that their ancestors didn't even contain the genes for. It's a really fascinating thing in general, and it's cool that we can leverage this for biological control applications."

From Science Daily

"Hopefully it will benefit biological control efforts by allowing the adelgid's predators to establish populations, and it may decrease our use of chemicals. But the bottom line is this study shows silviculture is another tool in the toolkit to increase the survival rate of eastern hemlocks."

From Science Daily