Status Updates From Endless Forms

I am often asked whether wasps are contributing to the decline of other 'more useful' insects, such as bees..Based on these calculations, I think it's safe to say that social wasps are not contributing to the recent 'insectageddon,' at least not native wasp species. They are..creaming off the most abundant invertebrates..[helping] keep a diverse community..in check without hunting any to the brink of local existence.

Parasitoid wasps-that rarely sting-account for almost 50% of the 230 invertebrate species..commercially used as biocontrol agents.These tiny pest controllers are like house elves-you never see them,only evidence of their work.For the price of a good bottle of wine, you can be the proud owner of enough Trichogramma wasps to strip your house clean of clothes moths.Let them run free-don't worry, you won't even see them.

If the benefits of nature are assigned no value, then they will be treated as having no value. -- Dame Professor Georgina Mace, FRS (2014)