R. VAN DRIESCHE, M. HODDLE AND T. CENTER, CONTROL OF PESTS AND WEEDS BY NATURAL ENEMIES. AN INTRODUCTION TO BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

Concerns arising from biological control of both alien exotic and native pest organisms have engendered substantial debate, sometimes heated, between proponents of the practice (particularly of classical biological control) and those concerned about non-target effects engendering or augmenting threats to native species. This book is an enlarged and substantially updated replacement for an earlier version (Van Driesche and Bellows 1996), and includes balanced appraisals of these topics within a broad and clearly written text which should be the benchmark for understanding biological control in all its various forms. Indeed, in the Preface the authors (all leaders in the field of practical biological control practice) comment, in relation to the revised scope of the book ‘Another major change is our effort to fully confront both the non-target impacts associated with biological control and the technical features of host-range measurement and prediction that are the tools for better future practice’. They do so in a clearly written and well referenced and exemplified account of considerable value to conservation biologists. A further stated aim is to ‘help train a new generation of biological control practitioners who will be problem-solvers and skilled ecologists’, and a valuable support resource for the book is web access to the senior author’s teaching materials, and the numerous photographs in the text. The book should indeed facilitate this aim. I found this thoroughly prepared text easy to read, engaging, and very informative, with the many complex issues expressed lucidly. The authors’ own experience ensures that they understand the wider ramifications of all aspects of biological control, as displayed in the 29 chapters grouped into 11 sections. Newly written guest chapters by Joseph Elkinton (The role of population ecology and population models….) and Richard Stouthamer (Molecular tools) are included, the first of these one of my ‘favourites’ in the volume. The major interests to conservation biologists start with part 3 (chapters: ‘The invasion crisis’, ‘Ways to suppress invasive species’) and continue through parts on ‘Natural enemy introductions: theory and practice’, ‘Tools for classical biological control’, ‘Safety’ (perhaps the section of greatest relevance to readers of this journal, with chapters on ‘Non-target impacts of biological control agents’, and ‘Avoiding indirect non-target impacts’), and ‘Measuring natural enemy impacts on pests’. Many chapters contain advice applicable directly to other facets of insect conservation. The section on ‘Foreign exploration’, for example, includes directions for packing and shipping living insects pertinent to reintroduction or translocation exercises; and the chapter on ‘Climate matching’ is also of direct interest. Nearly 90 double column pages of references constitute a comprehensive entry to the diverse literature of biological control and related themes, and a useful index is also provided. Altogether, this book is well produced and excellent value. In their concluding ‘Future directions’, the authors foresee that biological control will become increasingly important but also more complex, with legal and safety issues necessitating team approaches to many major projects. The future will also develop in response to increasingly well-informed risk: benefit analyses, in which T. R. New (&) Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia