The Functional Response of Parasitoids and its Implications for Biological Control

Abstract

The parasitoid functional response is regarded as central to host–parasitoid dynamics. If so, then the shape of this response may be related to parasitoid success in biological control programmes. We test this by reviewing the literature on the functional response together with the BIOCAT database. Only 32 out of 94 papers have dealt experimentally with the functional response of parasitoids used in biocontrol. The study suggests that most parasitoid species have a type II response. Also, there is no clear relationship between curve shape and success in control. We conclude that other aspects of the parasitoid behaviour deserve more attention in order to understand and predict these insects’ success as control agents.

Keywords:

• host–parasitoid interactions
• pest-control
• behavioural response
• density-dependence

Acknowledgments

We thank C. Bernstein for inspiring us to do this work and discussing our results. J.M.M. Van Alphen, C. Gittins, M.E. Fernandez, G. Fernandez, R. D'Alessio, J. Gyengue, J.E. Rabinovich and A.F. Capurro have made helpful comments. This work was supported by grant PIP 529/98 from CONICET and Ecos-Sud programme.