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Insect and plant populations are influenced by many factors in complex
ways. To date, it has only been possible to understand all of these effects
and all of this complexity for any insect/plant combination once the
relationship has been established and observed over many years in the
field. Introduction and release of a weed biological control agent is an
experiment with an unpredictable outcome. The most significant questions
to be asked are:
 | Will the insect feed on the plant?
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| Will the insect increase in numbers under conditions in the field,
and will density-independent factors limit its increase?
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| Will parasites and/or predators limit the population of the insect?
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| At densities achieved in the field, will damage inflicted on the
plants significantly reduce the plant population? |
An understanding of general population ecology and particular knowledge
of the population ecology of the weed and the biology of the potential
biocontrol agent will help in answering these questions. Answers to the
first two questions can be found to some extent before field release
through studies of taxonomy, host specificity, climate matching, and
temperature effects. Answers to the third question, and therefore the
fourth, cannot be found until the major experiment in biological control,
i.e. field release, has been carried out.
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Graham
White
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