Biological control is considered as a promising alternative to pesticide and plant resistance to manage plant diseases, but a better understanding of the interaction of its natural and societal functions is necessary for its endorsement. The introduction of biological control agents (BCAs) alters the interaction among plants, pathogens, and environments, leading to biological and physical cascades that influence pathogen fitness, plant health, and ecological function. These interrelationships generate a landscape of tradeoffs among natural and social functions of biological control, and a comprehensive evaluation of its benefits and costs across social and farmer perspectives is required to ensure the sustainable development and deployment of the approach. Consequently, there should be a shift of disease control philosophy from a single concept that only concerns crop productivity to a multifaceted concept concerning crop productivity, ecological function, social acceptability, and economical accessibility. To achieve these goals, attempts should make to develop “green” BCAs used dynamically and synthetically with other disease control approaches in an integrated disease management scheme, and evolutionary biologists should play an increasing role in formulating the strategies. Governments and the public should also play a role in the development and implementation of biological control strategies supporting positive externality.

In Chinese tea plantations, yellow sticky cards and light traps are increasingly used to control insect pests, especially the tea green leafhopper Empoasca onukii. In this study, a 16-week open-field experiment with daily weather monitoring was designed to test the responses of tea green leafhopper, parasitoids and spiders to yellow sticky cards and three light traps with different wavelengths (covered with sticky cards). An exclosure experiment was also designed to further test the influence of the three light systems (without sticky card) on the same species. The results showed that all three light emitting diode (LED) light traps (white, green and yellow) and yellow sticky cards attracted many more E. onukii male adults than females during the course of the open field experiment, with less than 25% of trapped adults being females. Parasitoids and spiders were also attracted by these systems. Weather variables, especially rainfall, influenced the trapping efficiency. In the exclosure experiment, the population of leafhoppers in the yellow sticky card treatment did not decline significantly, but the number of spiders significantly decreased. The green and white light treatments without sticky cards showed a significant control of E. onukii and no obvious harm to spiders. These results suggest that yellow sticky cards and light traps have limited capacity to control tea green leafhoppers. However, light, especially green light, may be a promising population control measure for tea green leafhoppers, not as killing agents in the traps, but rather as a behavioral control system.

Background/Objectives: Aphids are among the most economically damaging agricultural pests globally. However, the internal phylogeny of their largest subfamily, Aphidinae, remains contentious, particularly regarding intergeneric relationships, tribal boundaries, and monophyletic status. Here, we coupled refined taxon sampling with rigorous data-filtering strategies to resolve these persistent phylogenetic discordances. Methods: We sequenced the genomes of four aphid species: Lipaphis pseudobrassicae, Rhopalosiphum maidis, Hyalopterus arundiniformis, and Uroleucon helianthicola. Integrating these new data with public genomic and transcriptomic resources, we established a comprehensive phylogenomic framework for Aphidinae. To address conflicting topologies, we compared a taxonomically broad 157-taxa dataset against a high-completeness 47-taxa core dataset. Furthermore, we evaluated the impact of intrinsic sequence properties, such as compositional heterogeneity and substitution rates, on phylogenetic conflict. Results: Our analyses demonstrate that filtering phylogenetically inconsistent loci and accounting for site heterogeneity significantly improve the topological stability of previously recalcitrant taxa. Conclusions: This study provides a refined evolutionary framework for the Aphidinae and underscores the critical importance of rigorous data curation when resolving rapid evolutionary radiations.