Natural Enemies
What is it and what did we do?
Most of Florida's county extension agents that are responsible for pest control programs are supportive of IPM, and have a keen interest in educating their clientele about the biological control component of IPM. However, many new county agents have limited formal training or practical experience with the predators, parasitoids and herbivores that are responsible for natural regulation or biological pest control in Florida's agricultural, horticultural, public health, urban, and natural resource sectors. An awareness of the identity and biology of these beneficial organisms is essential for implementing successful biocontrol-based IPM programs at the local level. Except for professionals in the field of biological control, obtaining a working knowledge of the diversity of natural enemies already established in Florida or those that are available commercially can be a daunting task, especially for new county agents and their clientele. The proposed CD-ROM series is intended to address this need by providing county extension faculty with a readily available resource to help them educate their clientele about the natural enemies that are the basis of many of Florida's successful IPM programs. A recently developed checklist of Florida's important arthropod pests will serve as a starting point for prioritizing natural enemies to be included in the first CD-ROM.
The first CD-ROM is titled Beneficial Arthropods: Predators. To make it, we compiled images of predators and prepared the script. A detailed slide index prepared by the University of Florida 
Entomology and Nematology department was obtained. The best quality images were selected, scanned and incoporated into the CD. Published literature on the 37 examples of predatory organisms in the CD was reviewed to obtain information on their biologies, habitat, descriptions, and life cycles. An individual CD with the images and a companion CD containing the text were created.
The completed CD-ROM is a photographic gallery containing 133 different images, including adults and immatures, of 37 common arthropod predator species or groups that are likely to be encountered in the state of Florida. The format is HTML and the CDs may be used with any PC or Mac that has a CD-ROM drive and a Web browser. It is intended that the images and associated information will be incorporated into brochures, presentations, etc., developed by IFAS Extension Faculty at the local level.
What was the Outcome?
The CD was featured in the September-October 2007 issue of Florida Pest Pro Magazine. In addition, 67 copies were distributed to county extension offices and 14 copies were purchased from the IFAS Extension Bookstore between April - December 2007.
A complete description of the CD is available on the UF website. To view the description click here.
To access the IFAS Extension Bookstore webpage of the CD, click here.
The people that made this happen include:
- Dr. James Cuda, Associate Professor, Entomology
- Dr. William Overholt, Assistant Professor, IRREC
- Thomas Fasulo, Associate in Entomology
- Kenneth Gioeli, Extension Agent III, St. Lucie Co.
- Georgene Johnson, DPM Student