Harmful and Beneficial Insects: A Review of their Impacts and Controls

Insights into the socioeconomic burden of harmful insects that cause damage to humans and their livestock and crops, their control strategies, and the benefits of beneficial insects, are essential to improve the effectiveness of policies and strategies designed to enhance the livelihoods of poor and marginalized communities. This Research Topic seeks to advance our understanding of the recent impacts of harmful and beneficial insects (e.g., pollinators, edible insects) on food security, income, health, the environment across the agricultural supply chain, and the acceptance of edible insects by end users. It also aims to understand the impacts of technologies and practices being promoted to control harmful insects (e.g., fall armyworm, locust, fruit flies, etc.) on food and nutrition security, income, pesticides use, human health, and environment.

We invite submissions of original research papers, opinion review, and meta-analysis studies that would help academics, donors, and policymakers understand the economic importance of insects and technologies to control insects to design better agricultural, food, and agri-environmental policies. This topic also aims to be a space for collecting and disseminating evidence and knowledge on insect economics and seeking dialogue between researchers and institutions on the topic of insect economics.

All submissions will go through full peer review to ensure that published papers meet the quality expectations of papers in the Frontiers in Insect Science.

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the insect economics section and the Frontiers in Insect Science journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserve the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any peer review stage.

Keywords: harmful insects, insect controls, socioeconomic impact, pollinators, insects for feed and food, profitability, cost-effectiveness, pollination services, pesticides use, health and environmental impact, edible insects value chain, willingness to use and perception of edible insects

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.