Continuing Education and
Communication Services
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
11/12/01
Contacts:
Mark Shour, Extension Entomology, (515) 294-5963, mshour@iastate.edu
Del Marks, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-9087,
delmarks@iastate.edu
Yard and Garden Column for the week beginning Nov. 16
Let's Stop Bug Bashing!
By Mark H. Shour
Extension Program Specialist
Iowa State University Extension
Aphids on the roses, worms eating the cabbage and broccoli, boxelder bugs and lady beetles invading the home…. Often, garden columns in the local newspaper direct calculated, seemingly hostile words at insects, or bugs if you prefer. These columns are trying to warn you of harmful six-legged creatures feeding on you, your plants or your pets. Let's stop bashing the bugs for a moment and focus on their beneficial qualities.
Insects are beneficial to humans in many ways. They pollinate most common fruits, many vegetables and several ornamental plants. Ground-dwelling species improve the physical condition of the soil through their burrowing activities. Some insects protect crops by destroying pests that feed on them. Bugs have even been released as natural control agents for some weed species.
Insects perform a valuable service as scavengers of dead plants and animals, reducing them to recyclable components. Insects are excellent test organisms for research in genetics and toxicology. And, insects are an essential part of natural food chains.
Insects have produced many useful products for humans throughout history. Honey and beeswax are two such products made by honey bees. Beekeepers in the United States produce more than 200 million pounds of honey and 3 million pounds of beeswax each year. Great Britain imports more than 1 million pounds of beeswax for use in ointments, polishes, cosmetics and candles.
People worldwide wear silk clothing. An estimated 70 million pounds of silk, harvested from silkworm cocoons, is produced each year. Other useful products from insects include tannic acid (used for making leather), various dyes (used for dyeing cloth), and shellac (used for finishing wood). An estimated $9 million of shellac is used annually in the United States.
The eye-catching beauty of some insects also has been captured in paintings, jewelry and photographs, and has fostered a sense of relaxation for those who watch butterflies in flight.
Insects are fascinating creatures. A brief sampling of their unique qualities
follows.
* Ants can carry 50 times their body weight, often over long distances
and up trees. If a human could match this feat, a 100-pound person would
be able to pick up a small car in his or her teeth, carry it eight miles
and then climb Mt. Everest.
* A flea can broad jump 13 inches. If a human could do as well, he or she would need to jump 700 feet (two football fields end to end).
* House flies find sugar with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive than a human tongue. House flies also are equipped with special sense organs that detect slight winds. The reason a fly takes off before you can grab it is that the fly can sense the air being pushed toward it when your hand is moving.
* Monarch butterflies fly 2,500 miles round trip from North America to Mexico. While in Mexico, more than 14 million individuals cluster in an area only 140 yards in width.
* Honey bees make 10 million nectar-collecting trips to produce one pound of honey.
* Males of the lesser emperor moth can smell the female more than six miles away.
* The heaviest insect is the African Goliath beetle, weighing in at one-fourth pound.
* The smallest known insect is a parasitic wasp; it measures less than two hundredths of an inch in length.
* The longest insect is a walking stick; it has a body length of 13 inches and leg lengths of 20 inches.
* The fastest flying insect is a type of dragonfly, clocked at 98 miles per hour.
* Australian tiger beetles are the fastest running insects on earth, reaching top speeds at 5.6 miles per hour.
* The longest recorded life cycle of an insect was 51 years for a wood-boring beetle.
* The shortest adult reproductive life goes to a mayfly species. Females live less than five minutes and they manage to mate and lay eggs in this time.
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ml: isugarden
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