ABSTRACT
Hundreds of billions of insects are produced each year in insectaries or laboratories. These insects are reared for programs of pest control, as feed, for production of various products such as textiles and food, for research and education, among many purposes. The concept is advanced here that rearing conditions are expected to simulate the natural environments from which target insects are derived. Simply speaking, the rearing container and rearing facility are the insect’s microhabitat and its overall environment. Therefore, the central premise of this paper is that rearing systems are human-made ecosystems. If our expectations are to be met, that reared insects are healthy, fit, and of high quality—simulating their wild counterparts, rearing personnel must engineer conditions that meet all the insects’ needs. In this review, major advancements and progress are documented within the context of the ecology involved in artificial rearing technology. In this review, attention is paid to the food, environmental factors (temperature, humidity or water—in the case of aquatic insects—lighting, gas exchange, and soil—for soil-inhabiting insects), containment, and some special features of rearing systems that were designed to meet special needs of a target insect’s biology. Because there are thousands of publications on rearing advancements, the focus is on publications that had the strongest influence on modern day insect rearing systems, as well as papers that represent historically novel rearing concepts. Where the chain of information is missing on how or from where rearing innovations were derived, papers are referenced as documentation of the various rearing system features.