Biological Control
Eucharitids are candidates for biological control because each Eucharitid Subfamily targets a specific variety of ant genera. On the other hand, some Eucharitids, including the Kapala genus, are classified as pests for several different resons. First, a few days after oviposition occurs the leaves dry up where each egg was located. Second, it has been reported that tealeaves with such marks do not have as strong of a flavor as tea leaves without these marks. Third, not all Eucharitids have a significant effect on the size of their host’s colony.
Orasema are sometimes used as means of biological control for many ants, including the fire ant and little fire ant. This is because pesticides can cause damage to the environment, and they do not always work on fire ants. In addition, there are at least two Eucharitid species groups that are specialized parasites of these ants. In a journal, Heraty stated, “Leaving aside the philosophical problems associated with introducing any organism for biological control, I believe that species of Orasema do have potential as biological control agents and deserve more study.”
Read more about this topic: Eucharitidae
Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or control:
“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Knowledge in the form of an informational commodity indispensable to productive power is already, and will continue to be, a major—perhaps the major—stake in the worldwide competition for power. It is conceivable that the nation-states will one day fight for control of information, just as they battled in the past for control over territory, and afterwards for control over access to and exploitation of raw materials and cheap labor.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)