The principle behind using of various biological control methods is the use of predator to control the growth of pest. Predation can be termed as a biological interaction between the two species in which one organism feed on other. The organism that feed on other is termed as predator and the other one is termed as prey. The predators help in regulating the population of preys in a given habitat and helps in the management of pest insects thus preventing the crop from getting damaged.

This ecological principle is used in integrated pest management where instead of chemical pesticides, the population of the insect in a farm is controlled by its ecological enemy. This will also not let the insect species to increase to a level where it can damage the crop or decrease to a level where it may disturb the ecological balance.