Biological control falls into two categories
Biological control is the action of natural enemies (parasitoids, predators,
and pathogens) in maintaining another organism's density at a lower level
than would occur in their absence. Biological control falls into two categories:
| Natural biological control | Natural biological control is the reduction in an organism's density due to natural enemies (also called beneficials) and without intervention from people. Natural enemies help suppress the insect population, and hence are of great value in pest control. This fact is often unrecognized. |
| Applied biological control | Applied biological control is the method of pest control that relies on natural enemies to reduce pest populations to tolerable levels. It involves intervention by people (i.e.), conservation and augmentation of indigenous natural enemies, and importation or establishment of exotic ones. |
Graphically, biological control can be represented as:
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