[bjelkeman-again]

So called biological controll (for example parasitic wasps) is a very powerful way to deal with insect problems, as you point out.

As a side note I am wondering about there only being two parasitic wasp experts in the US, that must have been a long time ago.

My brother in law, who is one of the world's top parasitic wasp experts (based on papers published and scientific awards) has been working with US parasitic wasp experts for decades. He never mentioned this shortage of US scientists in this field.

[tzs]

Evans died in 2002, at age 83. If he retired around age 65, that would have been around 1967, so if he was referring to the state of the field when he was a professor that would have been in nearly 50 years ago.

"Life on a Little Known Planet" was first published in 1968, which fits in with that. The latest edition was revised and updated in 1993, which was still quite a while ago.

I don't recall for sure, but I believe the passage that mentioned only two parasitic wasp experts in the US was talking about the time when his graduate student was interested in specializing in that area, which could have been any time before he retired.

(I can't check because unfortunately I have it as an audio book. Great for listening in the car, but terrible for searching to find and reread a particular passage!)