ABSTRACT
Biological control of at least one of the named pests will significantly reduce the pesticide load in the local environment, crop production costs and prospects for resistance. This chapter seeks to use the Banks grass mite (BGM) and the sorghum-corn-wheat-weedy plant ecosystem to illustrate that annual crops are part of a suitably stable environment for development of biological controls. The BGM and its predators occupy undisturbed stands of johnsongrass year after year, stands which are overwintering habitat for BGM and its predators. BGM populations on johnsongrass were extremely low, but sufficient to maintain a phytoseiid predator. BGM begins feeding and reproducing nearly anywhere it lands in the field; whereas, the predators must first find BGM to sustain themselves before beginning reproduction. As the season progresses, more and more predators invade the field and those that succeed in finding BGM also survive to feed and reproduce.
