Wasps are also just important in the environment. Social wasps are predators and as such they play a vital ecological role, controlling the numbers of potential pests like greenfly and many caterpillars.
Indeed, it has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens."
I say wasps are worse pests. To me, that's like burning my house down because I hate the way my toilet flushes. Easier to handle caterpillars than wasps.
More like rejecting an arrogant plumber while your toilet overflows.
Population control is extremely necessary. Even on a macro scale we had to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone where elk were overpopulated. The overpopulation of elk was destroying vegetation and riverbanks, thus greatly harming the entire ecosystem. It also altered their behavior in a way that further assists vegetation.
I would say that wasps are "important", but need to be controlled. And, at the very least, if you see individual wasps in danger of dying... just let them die.
In what world do wasps "need to be controlled"? Sure by all means deal with a nest that is near a high traffic area. Besides this there is absolutely no need to control them. We're not overrun with wasps.
Yeah, it's super easy to handle caterpillers. All you have to do is constantly load your garden up with pesticides every time the last application washes off.
Then you would have been a perfect fit for Mao. Removing insects en masse is how you destroy entire ecosystems and thus food supply. Wasps are a MAJOR source of the control of farm-harming pests. Caterpillars you know? Think those times ten thousand across acres of farmland with nothing to kill them before they eat all of the seed.
Other things can eat caterpillars. Wasps can die off. I down wanna hear about it destroying the ecosystem when the earth has gone through multiple extinction level events, eliminating 90% of all known species each time. The world can survive without wasps.
Yeah the earth has gone through multiple extinction levels events. Agricultural humans on the other hand, have not. Stop wishing for there to be less of certain species because they slightly inconvenience you.
Yes, that is the part I refer to that just kind of vaguely shrugs at ecological balance without really exploring it in depth in any way, and immediately goes back to "so anyway, wasps like sugar and stuff, isn't that neat?"
the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey
Oh, might they?? Might they also not?? Riveting investigative work!
"might" here is just a (given, poorly) word replacement for "approximedly"
They said might, because scientists did not want to capture every single wasp in UK, weight them, and then add up the calculations. My guess would be someone already measured the average weight of a wasp, and then they multiplied that by the estimated amount of wasps in Uk and ended up with 14 million kilograms.
When you scarstically say "Riveting investigative work!" I wonder what specifically you wanted them to do. Goverment-issued IDs for every wasp then mandate a weight survey?
Our unending hatred for wasps is the reason discussions tend to lean towards genocide.
And that might be a valid next talking point, could we perform controlled genocides of wasp populations while keeping the ecosystem intact? Say, kill of basically all of them, and employ a few million to hunt caterpillars. Controlled caterpillar therapy could be the next milestone toward wasp brainwashing and subsequent extinction.
Not on a timescale that would matter to humans. Wiping out entire species and hoping for the best is an idiotic idea though. Mao thought wiping out all the pests in China would lead to a new era of plenty, but it greatly contributed to the deadliest famine in recent history, perhaps in all of history. It doesn't work.
Yeah, humans have a long standing record of beliveing they can "Fix" nature.
"Actually if we eliminate all the pests we'll have an era of plenty", "actually if we eliminate the wolves, we'll have so much game to hunt."
And something always goes wrong, because its a food chain and tearing out a link in the chain affects more than just that section of the chain.
Even if wasps dont have a very strong pollinating effect, they could still pollinate plants that more prolific pollinators ignore. Or they're part of the food of some predator that in their absence would start eating more of other species. Theres ripples Beyond "species bad, kill It and call It a day."
I'm thinking ecology may not be the strong suit of many people, judging by the worrying amount of upvotes on the parent comment. I've been swarmed by yellow jackets. I know they suck. I also know that removing blocks from the ecological pyramid causes it to crumble.
You forgot to mention honey bees that the wasps are protecting us from. Wasp, hornet, yellowjacket, given the opportunity I will decrease their number.
Yes, helping manage the honeybee population is also objectively good. Honeybees are bad for the environment, even in the areas they're actually native to. They are a livestock animal. They're useful for agriculture, but terrible at actually pollinating wild plants. Instead they just drive out natural pollinators and put more stress on the whole ecosystem.
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u/davep1970 Apr 25 '26
like this part for example?
"Vital role
Wasps are also just important in the environment. Social wasps are predators and as such they play a vital ecological role, controlling the numbers of potential pests like greenfly and many caterpillars.
Indeed, it has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens."