News and Reviews

Audubon Society Report on Host Specificity

In 1993 the National Audubon Society sponsored a workshop in Washington, D. C. to address the issue of host specificity in biological control. The goal of the workshop was to identify the nature of host specificity among many kinds of organisms that have been used in biological control programs and to explore the dimensions of host specificity as it is affected by external factors in the hosts' environments. The presentations of the speakers and subsequent discussions were combined to create the National Audubon Society publication "Host Specificity in Biological Control Agents."

The 22-page report covers specificity in micorbial biological control agents (insect and plant pathogens), arthropod agents (predators, parasites, and herbivores) and vertebrate predators. The basic concepts of biological control and characteristics of host specificity are discussed, along with estimating host specificity and risks, in a brief and general way. No references are provided, but authors could be contacted for further information.

For more information on the report contact:

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