The Role of Nutritional Principles in Biological Control

Abstract

The role that nutrition plays in biological control may be seen in natural environments; but to understand and to make use of this role the principles concerned must be understood essentially in terms of specific chemical substances. A number of principles of insect nutrition particularly relevant to biological control concern the food of the host, the host itself, and its parasitoid. These principles may be generalized into three laws and they are called here the rule of sameness, the principle of nutrient proportionality, and the principle of cooperating supplements. Each is discussed in connection with its application in the laboratory or in natural environments, and a few examples of work relating to each are given. Most examples quoted are from work at Belleville, Ontario, on the parasitoid Pseudosarcophaga affinis Auct. nec. Fallén.