Bees, especially the honey bee variety, have become man's secret weapon in biological control warfare. Biological control is, generally, man's use of a specially chosen living organism to control a particular pest. The chosen organism might be a predator, parasite, or disease, which will attack the harmful insect or invading plant. There are three main ways to use these natural enemies against unwanted pest populations. Classical biological control , or importation, involves traveling to the area from which a newly introduced pest originated and returning with some of the natural enemies that kept it from being a pest there.
Augmentation is a method of increasing the population of a natural enemy.
Lastly, conservation plays an important role in any biological control effort. By working to ensure the continued existence of natural predators, pest populations can be controlled. Explain how the honeybees help distribute the Trichoderma. To learn more about these delivery bees and Joe Kovach's research go to the Ohio State's Research page. To learn more about bees in general visit The Biology of the Honeybee , a website sponsored by Eastern Connecticut State University.