Life on Earth is dependent on a host of things to survive and thrive, including pollination, which is essential to maintaining the world’s ecosystem. Pollination is vital in the life cycle of all flowering plants and the growth of fruits and vegetables that are key to a healthy human diet. As the world observed National Pollinator Week earlier this summer, Rose Pest Solutions, the nation’s oldest pest management company headquartered in Troy, Mich., supported enterprises in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio that preserve these beneficial species.
During National Pollinator Week (June 17-23) and throughout the year, Rose partnered with local organizations and apiaries, like Gaiser Bee Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, to help spread the word about the importance of preserving pollinators and the impact they have on the environment. Gaiser and Rose teamed up to design native wildflower seed packets that customers of the apiary picked up to plant to attract honeybees to their home gardens. The partnership also included Rose’s support of Gaiser’s Host-a-Hive Program and the urban bee farm’s early spring community party.
Rose Pest Solutions and Gaiser Bee Com- pany designed native wildflower seed packets that apiary customers could plant to attract honeybees to home gardens.
According to the Pollinator Partnership, 75 to 95 percent of all flowering plants need help with pollination. Pollinators are key to transferring pollen within healthy and productive agricultural ecosystems. Honeybees are among the beneficial insects that pollinate more than 180,000 different plant species. Studies show honeybees make approximately 2 million flower visits to produce a pound of honey.
“Rose Pest Solutions appreciates the importance of beneficial insects in our ecosystem and we’re especially dedicated to protecting pollinators,” said Dale Hodgson, BCE, certified entomologist and regional technical supervisor for Rose Pest Solutions. “We’re proud to partner with apiaries in the markets we serve — like Gaiser Bee Company in Ohio. Honeybees are really cool insects; they help to raise people’s awareness of the importance of pollinator health, and they also help make connections between the field and the table.”
Rose explains to its commercial and residential customers that the firm works to protect beneficial pollinators. If a honeybee hive or nest is discovered on a customer’s property, Rose says it prefers safe relocation of the colony whenever possible. This may involve reaching out to a local beekeeper or relying on Rose’s internal experts that have relocated live honeybee colonies in the past.
In addition to Gaiser, Rose partners with Detroit Hives in Detroit, Mich., and The Harpur Bee Hive at Purdue University in Indiana. Source: Rose Pest Solutions
Understanding Insects’ Roles
Features - Cover Story
The loss of beneficial insects impacts our entire ecosystem. What do PMPs need to know and how should they talk about the topic with their customers?
Despite seeming ironic on the surface, pest management professionals know that many insects are beneficial. Why? Because certain insects are valuable and helpful to our environment and ecosystem, and that message needs to be communicated to today’s well-informed and engaged consumers.
There are nearly 1 million known insect species in the world but only one to three percent are ever considered a threat to humans, structures or crops. That leaves a lot of insects doing what insects do, and many of those activities benefit people and the environment.
Today, there is a concern that many of the insects that benefit us are in jeopardy. In a report published earlier this year in the journal Biological Conservation, researchers revealed dramatic rates of decline that could lead to the extinction of 40 percent of the world’s insect species over the next few decades.
It’s important, however, to differentiate between beneficial insects and pests. While there are reports of beneficial insects on the decline, the National Pest Management Association told PCT that such studies “focused primarily on larger rural insect populations and tropical arthropods....We’re not seeing any decreases in urban pests such as cockroaches, ticks and ants...” (See NPMA’s full statement in the Editor’s column.)
In regards to beneficial insect decline, while the honeybee, monarch butterfly and various species of beetles are some of the most recognizable insects threatened, there are hundreds of species at risk.
The driving factors behind this include habitat loss and conversion to intensive agriculture and urbanization, the use of pesticides, biological factors (including pathogens and introduced species) and climate change.
BENEFICIAL INSECTS. Insects make positive contributions by:
Preying on Pest Insects — Certain pests, like spiders, are predators of insects. So are some types of beetles, flies, true bugs and lacewings.
Parasitizing Pest Insects — Parasitic insects, like some small wasps, lay their eggs inside insects or their eggs and this can help drive pest populations down.
Pollinating Plants — Insects like native bees, honeybees, butterflies and moths can provide this service, helping plants bear fruit and other crops.
Beneficial Animals — Birds and bats are examples of animals that can feed on pest insects.
Beneficial insects act as biological vacuum cleaners and help promote the cycle of life and natural balance of the ecosystem. Springtails and earthworms are soil recyclers, and without them the soil in your yard or neighborhood park would be hard as a rock. Termites are also soil recyclers but they have a less appealing side to them as well.
When ants are seen crawling across the kitchen floor, they are a pest that needs to be eliminated. On the flipside, when ants forage outdoors they are beneficial since they eat damaging turf pests, including white grubs and webworms. The same can be said of spiders and parasitic wasps.
In recent years the pollinator issue has been at the forefront of the beneficial insect debate and the pest management industry has been proactive in its response and recognition of the importance of pollinators.
Just how important is pollination? Dr. Mike Potter, extension professor at the University of Kentucky, says research has shown that one of every three bites of food we eat was made possible by bee pollination. And it’s just not the honeybee. There are more than 5,000 species of wild bees in North America and many are more abundant and efficient pollinators than the honeybee. They not only pollinate the crops we eat but ones that livestock (e.g., alfalfa) and wildlife rely on as well.
“Honeybees are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pollination,” says Potter. “Wild bees in urban areas are very prolific and contribute greatly to the pollination of wildflowers, trees and shrubs that deliver environmental benefits (cooling the earth, carbon sequestration, etc.) but also serve as food and habitat for other wildlife.”
The loss of beneficial insects not only deals a blow to the ecosystem but leads to lost opportunities in science.
Dr. Mike Merchant, professor and extension urban entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Dallas, says that the loss of insect life due to human activities could create a domino effect on plants, animals and the ecosystem that holds them together.
“While losing an insect species might not seem to be a big deal to many people, the true loss is not always immediately apparent,” says Merchant. “When an insect becomes rare, or goes extinct, it affects other species in nature.”
RECONCILIATION ECOLOGY. Today’s consumers have greater access to information — although not always accurate — and are paying more attention to the growing loss of beneficial insects in our ecosystem. While it doesn’t rise to the same volume as the conversation on climate change, the issue has found its niche in the ecological world and has been christened “reconciliation ecology.”
Reconciliation ecology studies ways to encourage biodiversity in human-dominated ecosystems. Unlike traditional conversation which sets aside large tracks of land (i.e., national parks) for preservation, reconciliation ecology focuses on investing in and maintaining species diversity in urban areas where people live and play.
How popular is this concept of reconciliation ecology with consumers?
Look at the volumes of information featured on social media, websites and pages of parenting and home improvement media outlets that talk about the value of creating a backyard that promotes plant and animal wellness. And big box home improvement giants Lowe’s and Home Depot now tag flowers and plants that support strong backyard ecosystems.
“We live in an ecosystem that functions a little like a jet airplane,” says Merchant. “Remove a single rivet from an airplane and it can hold together by shifting stress to other parts of the plane. But keep removing bolts and eventually you risk catastrophic failure. You never know what the key rivet is until it’s gone. This is why biologists get nervous about reports of declining insect populations. There is no way that such changes are good for the ecosystem — or for people in the long run.”
Merchant says that in the eyes of many, pesticides are one of the big contributors to this decline of nature. Articles about declines in honeybee numbers, for example, usually mention pesticides as part of the problem. This can affect how the public perceives us in the pest control industry.
“The good services pesticides provide can get overlooked in the debate,” said Merchant. “We in the pest control industry know that when pesticides are used responsibly they can protect public health and property. I think consumers need to hear that our industry cares about nature too. Only then will we be seen as something more than ‘bug killers.’”
Savvy PMPs know that consumers will align themselves with brands they feel are aligned with their beliefs. It will take not only targeted messaging in consumer-facing advertising and marketing but designing pest programs that go the extra mile to protect beneficial insects.
“Pest managers must demonstrate they are sensitive to the issue and are conservation minded when it comes maintaining a diverse ecosystem that includes beneficial insects,” says Potter. “There is a huge opportunity for our industry to tell the story and get in front of this issue.”
In a recent Associated Press story on the decline of beneficial insects, University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy said there would be a total ecosystem collapse if insects were lost. He added, “If they (insects) disappeared, the world would start to rot.”
Kentucky’s Potter shares his fellow scientist’s concerns and says conditions are getting worse. “It is a complicated, contentious issue, but we must acknowledge the fact that climate change does impact insects.”
The author is a communications and marketing consultant with B Communications.
A staple of summer — swarms of bugs — seems to be a thing of the past. And that’s got scientists worried.
Pesky mosquitoes, disease-carrying ticks, crop-munching aphids and cockroaches are doing just fine. But the more beneficial flying insects of summer — native bees, moths, butterflies, ladybugs, lovebugs, mayflies and fireflies — appear to be less abundant.
Scientists think something is amiss, but they can’t be certain: In the past, they didn’t systematically count the population of flying insects, so they can’t make a proper comparison to today. Nevertheless, they’re pretty sure across the globe there are fewer insects that are crucial to as much as 80 percent of what we eat.
Yes, some insects are pests. But they also pollinate plants, are a key link in the food chain and help decompose life.
“You have total ecosystem collapse if you lose your insects. How much worse can it get than that?” said University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy. If they disappeared, “the world would start to rot.”
He noted Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson once called bugs: “The little things that run the world.”
The 90-year-old Wilson recalled that he once frolicked in a “Washington alive with insects, especially butterflies.” Now, “the flying insects are virtually gone.”
It hit home last year when he drove from suburban Boston to Vermont and decided to count how many bugs hit his windshield. The result: A single moth.
WINDSHIELD TEST. The un-scientific experiment is called the windshield test. Wilson recommends everyday people do it themselves to see. Baby Boomers will probably notice the difference, Tallamy said.
How many insects met their demise on your vehicle’s windshield today?
Several scientists have conducted their own tests with windshields, car grilles and headlights, and most notice few squashed bugs. Researchers are quick to point out that such exercises aren’t good scientific experiments, since they don’t include control groups or make comparisons with past results.
(Today’s cars also are more aerodynamic, so bugs are more likely to slip past them and live to buzz about it.)
Still, there are signs of decline. Research has shown dwindling individual species in specific places, including lightning bugs, moths and bumblebees. One study estimated a 14 percent decline in ladybugs in the United States and Canada from 1987 to 2006. University of Florida urban entomologist Philip Koehler said he’s seen a recent decrease in lovebugs — insects that fly connected and coated Florida’s windshields in the 1970s and 1980s. This year, he said, “was kind of disappointing, I thought.”
University of Nevada, Reno, researcher Lee Dyer and his colleagues have been looking at insects at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica since 1991. There’s a big insect trap sheet under black light that decades ago would be covered with bugs. Now, “there’s no insects on that sheet,” he said.
But there’s not much research looking at all flying insects in big areas.
THE EVIDENCE. In 2017, a study that found an 82 percent mid-summer decline in the number and weight of bugs captured in traps in 63 nature preserves in Germany compared with 27 years earlier. It was one of the few, if only, broad studies. Scientists say similar comparisons can’t be done elsewhere because similar bug counts weren’t done decades ago.
“We don’t know how much we’re losing if we don’t know how much we have,” said University of Hawaii entomologist Helen Spafford.
The lack of older data makes it “unclear to what degree we’re experiencing an arthropocalypse,” said University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum. Individual studies aren’t convincing in themselves, “but the sheer accumulated weight of evidence seems to be shifting” to show a problem, she said.
After the German study, countries started asking if they have similar problems, said ecologist Toke Thomas Hoye of Aarhus University in Denmark. He studied flies in a few spots in remote Greenland and noticed an 80 percent drop in numbers since 1996.
“It’s clearly not a German thing,” said University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner, who has chronicled declines in moth populations in the northeastern United States. “We just need to find out how widespread the phenomenon is.”
THE SUSPECTS. Most scientists say lots of factors, not just one, caused the apparent decline in flying insects.
Suspects include habitat loss, insecticide use, the killing of native weeds, single-crop agriculture, invasive species, light pollution, highway traffic and climate change.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts, and that’s really bad news,” Wagner said.
To Tallamy, two causes stand out: Humans’ war on weeds and vast farmland planted with the same few crops.
Weeds and native plants are what bugs eat and where they live, Tallamy said. Milkweeds, crucial to the beautiful monarch butterfly, are dwindling fast. Manicured lawns in the United States are so prevalent that, added together, they are as big as New England, he said.
Those landscapes are “essentially dead zones,” he said.
Light pollution is another big problem for species such as moths and fireflies, bug experts said. Insects are attracted to brightness, where they become easy prey and expend energy they should be using to get food, Tallamy said.
Jesse Barber of Boise State is in the middle of a study of fireflies and other insects at Grand Teton National Park. He said he notices a distinct connection between light pollution and dwindling populations.
“We’re hitting insects during the day, we’re hitting them at night,” Tallamy said. “We’re hitting them just about everywhere.”
Lawns, light pollution and bug-massacring highway traffic are associated where people congregate. But Danish scientist Hoye found a noticeable drop in muscid flies in Greenland 300 miles (500 kilometers) from civilization. His studies linked declines to warmer temperatures.
Other scientists say human-caused climate change may play a role, albeit small.
RESTORING HABITAT. Governments are trying to improve the situation. Maryland is in a three-year experiment to see if planting bee-friendly native wildflowers helps. University of Maryland entomology researcher Lisa Kuder says the usual close-crop “turf is basically like a desert” that doesn’t attract flying insects. She found an improvement — 70 different species and records for bees — in the areas where flowers are allowed to grow wild and natural alongside roads.
The trouble is that it is so close to roadways that Tallamy fears that the plants become “ecological traps where you’re drawing insects in and they’re all squashed by cars.”
Still, Tallamy remains hopeful. In 2000, he moved into this rural area between Philadelphia and Baltimore and made his 10-acre patch all native plants, creating a playground for bugs. Now he has 861 species of moths and 54 species of breeding birds that feed on insects.
Wagner, of the University of Connecticut, spends his summers teaching middle schoolers in a camp to look for insects, like he did decades ago. They have a hard time finding the cocoons he used to see regularly. “The kids I’m teaching right now are going to think that scarce insects are the rule,” Wagner said. “They’re not realizing that there could be an ecological disaster on the horizon.”
Reprinted with permission. Copyrighted 2018. Associated Press. 291571:1218PF
Associated Press video journalist Federica Narancio contributed to this report. Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears.
Dr. Chow-Yang Lee Joins UC-Riverside
Features - In the News
Lee comes to UC-Riverside from the Universiti Sains Malaysia where he performed a broad spectrum of applied research and studied insect toxicology.
Acclaimed entomologist Dr. Chow-Yang Lee recently joined the University of California, Riverside, Department of Entomology as endowed presidential chair in Urban Entomology. His official start date was July 1.
Lee said he was excited about the opportunity to join the storied department, which rose to prominence under the late urban entomology pioneer Dr. Walter Ebeling, and whose tradition was carried on by Dr. Mike Rust and research associate Don Reierson.
In his position at UCR, Lee serves as a mentor to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers; teaches courses related to urban entomology and insect toxicology; and interacts with pest management professionals and related stakeholders in urban pest management. “My research direction will continue to center around the behavioral, ecological and physiological adaptations of urban insect pests, especially understanding how these adaptations help them to thrive in the urban environment and their biological trade-offs,” he said. “I am also interested in the roles of human activities and propagule pressure in invasion history of urban insect pests. Using the research findings obtained, my students and I design, evaluate and integrate multiple management tactics to provide a system-level approach towards urban pest management.”
Lee added that one of his short-term goals (five to seven years) is to elevate the level of interaction between the UCR urban entomology program with pest management professionals in the U.S. and around the world.
Lee comes to UC-Riverside from the Universiti Sains Malaysia where he performed a broad spectrum applied research and background in insect toxicology. Lee said his greatest accomplishment at that institution was “helping to train many students who later went on pursuing successful careers in academia, industry or their own pest management companies,” including many that were first-generation college graduates from underprivileged upbringings. He also said he was proud to have been “a driving force who has made an impact on the pest management industry in Southeast Asia through my research findings and training of pest management personnel.”
More than 100 women attended the Women in Pest Control inaugural event.
Editor’s note: The first annual Women in Pest Control (WIPC) conference was held Aug. 23 in Austin, Texas. Linde Mills of Nisus Corporation was in attendance and provided the following recap.
Women from across the nation made history together as they attended the inaugural Women in Pest Control (WIPC) conference in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 23. With more than 100 women in attendance, this conference boasted all female attendees, speakers and vendors.
Event organizers Bobbie Terry (left) and Lisa Meyers-Botts.
Bobbie Terry, owner of The Bug Lady Pest Control, founded the WIPC group Facebook page on May 2, 2017. In January of this year, Terry and Lisa Meyers-Botts, co-owner of WIPC and owner of Peacock Pest Prevention, began publicly discussing the possibility of group members meeting in person. They said they had such positive feedback that the idea quickly evolved into a full-blown conference. Terry and Meyers-Botts said they determined that this was an important opportunity to encourage close collaboration between pest management professionals, distributors and manufacturers, not only for making knowledge more accessible, but also for the dissemination of diverse content that promotes gender equality.
“I can’t believe how just asking the ladies in the group if anyone would be interested in a meet-and-greet once a year blew into a conference,” Terry says. “The next thing we knew, phones, email and (Facebook) Messenger were blowing up with people wanting to help. We are so grateful for all the support and help. I believe this is only going to get bigger and better!” Attendees spent the day learning from inspiring women in the industry as well as networking with women who are facing some of the same struggles they are. Meyers-Botts said she is still amazed at the response. “I still can’t believe the support; it was so amazing for all of these women to come together and make this happen,” she added.
Conference organizers said the event was designed to help female pest control operators develop themselves professionally and find fulfillment in their work and beyond.
The WIPC Facebook group page now has almost 500 members. The next WIPC conference is scheduled for Sept. 25, 2020, in Houston, Texas. Learn more. — Linde Mills
