British Sign Language Glossaries of Curriculum Terms

BSL Environmental Science Glossary - Biological control definition

Definition: The control of pests using living organisms, usually predators or pathogens.

For example, in the ∼1840s, in Australia, a cactus plant called opuntia was invasive and grew over large land areas. Farmers struggled to grow crops because of these cacti, so they imported cactoblastis caterpillars from Argentina. These caterpillars ate these cacti and helped to reduce the population. This is biological control - using a predator to control the population of a species.