Bob Lea, age 14., of Ivahoe, California, for his question
Are insects any use to mankind?
They attack us with stabbers, jabbers and stingers. They ruin countless tons of our precious food and some of them infect us with deadly diseases. Surely there is nothing good to say about the teeming, swarm¬ing, pesky insects and perhaps it would be a good idea to wipe them all out. However, when we complain that we can't live with the bugs it is wise to recall that neither could sae live without them.
More than 100,000 insect species have been named and classified and among them we would expect some that are useful to mankind. But actually eye can name only a few that are directly beneficial to us. The rest of the teeming hordes behave like our mortal enemies. Or so it seems. Actually all insects benefit us indirectly because they are necessary to the complex scheme of life on our planet.
From our point of view, the raost useful insect is the honeybee. She manufactures fine wax for polishing furniture, plus stores of sweet nutritious honey. As she oes about her busy chores, she also pollinates our orchard blossoms. Souse 50 seed and fruit crops depend on the honey¬bee, among them apples, sweet cherries and plums. Certain butterflies and beetles, flies and wasps also help to pollinate our food crops.
Even in this age of splendid synthetic textiles, silk still is the most luxurious fabric. It is woven from the sossamer thread that the silkworm moth weaves to make her cocoon. The silkworm and the honeybee have been useful to mankind for thousands of years.
Certain scale insects secrete substances that mankind has long used to make dyes and lacquers. Gall insects create injurious swellings on plant stems and twi3s. For a es mankind used substances from these bumpy galls to make ink, to dye tool and leather.
Nowadays, we are turnip from dangerous chemical insecticides to more natural ways of controlling the insects that destroy our crops. Often we find that friendly insects can be encouraged to destroy harmful insects.
A modern farmer's insect allies include the praying mantis, the ladybug, certain wasps and lace pings. These carnivorous insects feast on vegetarian insects that devour our crops.
These and a few other insect species benefit us directly. With all the other insects they also play an enormous role in the ecology. Every year, enormous numbers of insect eggs and larva are consumed by fishes and fro s, birds and reptiles and small mammals. The food chains that support the pyramid of life on earth depend on astronomical numbers of insects.
Last but not least, insects make a great contribution to the soil. Countless tons of their eggs, larvae and adults decompose in the ground. This helps to provide the organic chemicals that plants absorb through their roots. The plant world, of course, provides our oxygen, ou~f salads and vegetables and also feeds our meat and dairy animals.