For the love of wasps
Rather than hating these ecosystem warriors, we should be grateful to them
By Annette J Beveridge
Love them or loathe them, wasps are essential to a healthy ecosystem. Although there are 7,000 wasp species in the UK, the most commonly seen and often, disliked is the vibrant black and yellow species.
The common wasp (Vespula Vulgaris) predates upon insects which are harmful to crops such as green fly or caterpillars. Without wasps, we would be overrun with insects.
Social wasps capture approximately 14 million kg of insect prey.
The queen hibernates during the winter months and emerges in the spring to build nests and to lay eggs. The worker wasps take over the duties of building the nests and collect food for the larvae throughout the spring and summer months.
Vital predators
Adult wasps are ferocious hunters but do not eat the prey they catch – this is for the young. Prey is caught and chopped up into manageable body parts carried back to the nest.
Adult wasps do not live for long and they do not need protein, but rather seek the carbohydrate-rich nectar when they go from plant to plant performing a vital pollination service as they do so. Feeding on sugar from flower nectar, worker wasps also gain sustenance from the sugary liquid produced by the larvae.
Wasps can be considered at the top of the food chain and are vital for food webs keeping other populations such as spiders, woodlice and insects controlled. Left alone, wasps as vital pest controllers become a healthier replacement for the toxic chemicals used on crops or in gardens.
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Reproduction
Worker wasps self-sacrifice their own reproduction. The queen will have one mating flight during her lifetime and may mate with several males storing sperm in the abdomen. She controls its release to fertilise eggs laid throughout life.
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In late summer, the workers have stopped raising larvae so need to search for replacement sugars, and this is why wasps may seem aggressive when appearing at picnics as they are drawn to the sugary sweet food and drinks.
The fabric of nature
We must learn to see the bigger picture, and to consider biodiversity as a whole. Without wasps pollinating plants and trees, many would not be able to reproduce so wasps are essential for the stability of ecosystems. These are generalist pollinators and have far greater numbers than bees and can frequent degraded habitats.
Wasps can be considered ‘back-up’ pollinators.
Instead of loathing wasps, we should consider them fascinating. We must learn to live alongside nature in its entirety, not just revere the insects or mammals we like the look of, but become enthusiasts of those that provide a vital role in the complexity of the natural world.
Let's not pick and choose the species we care for because by doing so, we restrict our own healthy futures.
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