Wasp Cricket
- Thread starter Big Chiv
- Start date
Spursex
Alert Team
Wasps are on the decline and are desperately needed.......don't bother me at all!
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...wasps-and-other-flying-nasties-is-a-bad-sign/
Spursex
Alert Team
Wasps deserve to be loved
Author
James Dyke is a co-chair of Sustainability Science Southampton: www.southampton.ac.uk/sustainability_science
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University of Southampton provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
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Not cute, but crucial. Alvesgaspar
Recently a newspaper asked its readers to propose species that were, ecologically speaking, “useless”, such that their loss would not have any great knock-on effect on other species or biological cycles. And what did they choose to illustrate this question with? A wasp - which, along with stinging nettles and dog dirt are pretty much the only appreciable natural hazards in the British Isles.
Like many other species of the order Hymenoptera, these insects have modified ovipositors that no longer lay eggs but instead sting. While bees either make honey or look fluffy and bumbling, these black and yellow wasps seem to do nothing but ruin whatever weather passes for a British summer by pestering picnics and dive-bombing barbeques.
Getting stung by a wasp is not a great deal of fun. For an unlucky few it can even be life-threatening if they experience an extreme immune system reaction to the venom and enter anaphylactic shock. In some regions some wasps are considered invasive species, which have in a relatively short period of time wrought havoc on native ecosystems.
But I want to consider our attitudes to these species in their native habitats. I want us, in short, to love wasps;
Wasps are not useless but in fact very important elements in complex ecosystems. Adult wasps feed on nectar and sweet fruit (and possibly your unattended soft drink or beer as they will be attracted to its strong smell). By feeding on nectar, wasps are pollinating species. But it is the feeding requirements of their larvae that produce arguably more important ecological effects as their larvae only eat solid food. Consequently, a great deal of an adult wasp’s time is spent searching for species that we consider pests: aphids and caterpillars that eat the plants that we want to eat, or like to admire.
To answer the question of what purpose wasps play, one could do much worse than consult Alfred Lotka’s ground breaking work on mathematical biology. Lotka captured some of the myriad interactions between species in a series of elegant equations and showed the complex ecosystem-level behaviour that could result. It would be practically impossible to predict the impact of the extinction of even a single species of wasp on the many other creatures and plants it interacts with, directly or indirectly.
They may be a nuisance, to some even life threatening. But if we value them and give them due process and consideration, then we should be in a much better position to consider the very large number of other species that we directly benefit from such as bees pollinating crops or trees stabilising slopes and reducing flooding.
Until recently, we have simply taken for granted that the other species we share the Earth’s biosphere with contribute greatly to our well being. In an important way, these hidden benefits are very much like rights - you only notice how vital they were after they are taken away.
Author
-
James Dyke
Lecturer in Complex Systems Simulation, University of Southampton
James Dyke is a co-chair of Sustainability Science Southampton: www.southampton.ac.uk/sustainability_science
Partners
University of Southampton provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
The Conversation UK receives funding from these organisations
View the full list
Republish this article
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.
Recently a newspaper asked its readers to propose species that were, ecologically speaking, “useless”, such that their loss would not have any great knock-on effect on other species or biological cycles. And what did they choose to illustrate this question with? A wasp - which, along with stinging nettles and dog dirt are pretty much the only appreciable natural hazards in the British Isles.
Like many other species of the order Hymenoptera, these insects have modified ovipositors that no longer lay eggs but instead sting. While bees either make honey or look fluffy and bumbling, these black and yellow wasps seem to do nothing but ruin whatever weather passes for a British summer by pestering picnics and dive-bombing barbeques.
Getting stung by a wasp is not a great deal of fun. For an unlucky few it can even be life-threatening if they experience an extreme immune system reaction to the venom and enter anaphylactic shock. In some regions some wasps are considered invasive species, which have in a relatively short period of time wrought havoc on native ecosystems.
But I want to consider our attitudes to these species in their native habitats. I want us, in short, to love wasps;
Wasps are not useless but in fact very important elements in complex ecosystems. Adult wasps feed on nectar and sweet fruit (and possibly your unattended soft drink or beer as they will be attracted to its strong smell). By feeding on nectar, wasps are pollinating species. But it is the feeding requirements of their larvae that produce arguably more important ecological effects as their larvae only eat solid food. Consequently, a great deal of an adult wasp’s time is spent searching for species that we consider pests: aphids and caterpillars that eat the plants that we want to eat, or like to admire.
To answer the question of what purpose wasps play, one could do much worse than consult Alfred Lotka’s ground breaking work on mathematical biology. Lotka captured some of the myriad interactions between species in a series of elegant equations and showed the complex ecosystem-level behaviour that could result. It would be practically impossible to predict the impact of the extinction of even a single species of wasp on the many other creatures and plants it interacts with, directly or indirectly.
They may be a nuisance, to some even life threatening. But if we value them and give them due process and consideration, then we should be in a much better position to consider the very large number of other species that we directly benefit from such as bees pollinating crops or trees stabilising slopes and reducing flooding.
Until recently, we have simply taken for granted that the other species we share the Earth’s biosphere with contribute greatly to our well being. In an important way, these hidden benefits are very much like rights - you only notice how vital they were after they are taken away.
Spursex
Alert Team
Haha, the evil little bastards come near me they get smashed to the boundary
I've been stung once too often taking the pacifist approach to these vicious little gits !
You have to ooze positive thoughts...then they just leave you alone.
Make them your friends, give them a cuddle and better still leave a saucer of strong beer our for them - it's funny as hell watching them try and fly after having a good drink - they must have a hell of a hangover after!
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Greavswasthegreatest
Vital Football Legend
W hite A nglo S axon P rotestant S can be a real pain as well
Greavswasthegreatest
Vital Football Legend
They don't like Pheromones.....so get horney and they willleave you alone....as probably most women will as well ha ha
Nick Real Deal
Vital Football Legend
I got stung on my head while asleep and on my hand while watching tv. I was motionless both times. No reason to sting me.....evil bastards. I don't kill every one I see but if they hassle me it's curtains.
Greavswasthegreatest
Vital Football Legend
What B's those wasps are....
