What is the point of wasps?

At this time of year, wasps are common visitors to our gardens, picnics, and other outdoor occasions. Sometimes, they’re viewed as a nuisance. Sometimes, they’re viewed with outright terror. So, what is the point of wasps?

Wasps are often compared and contrasted to bees. Bees pollinate flowers, an essential component of the food growing cycle. Figures suggest that 85% of plants exist because of bees. And a third of all the food we eat depends on pollinators. Many readers will have seen the calls to action asking people to help save the bees. But what of the wasp?

There are around 9,000 species of wasp in the UK. And they have an important part to play in maintaining the balance of the eco-system. Wasps are predators, and as such, they are efficient pest controllers. Their prey includes flies and caterpillars, which they feed to the young wasps.

It is estimated that each summer, wasps in the UK capture 14 million kilograms of prey such as caterpillars and greenfly! This is a huge contribution to global food security. Wasps control wide populations, and their varied diet means they are unlikely to wipe any individual species out. Without wasps, other measures to control the numbers of crop destroying pests would need to be used, most likely, chemical interventions.

The wasps we see out and about are the hunting adults, gathering food for their broods. Adult wasps are not meat eaters, feeding instead on sugar, some of which comes from flower nectar. Meaning that wasps are also pollinators. They are less selective than bees over which flowers they feed from, so are not as efficient at pollinating. However, with bees declining, and urban areas not always providing suitable bee habitats, the wasps’ role as pollinator is increasingly important.

Some wasps have very specific responsibilities. For example, around 100 varieties of orchid depend on wasps for survival. The orchid flower mimics the pheromones of female wasps, so that males will pollinate the flowers when they attempt to mate. And figs and wasps have a symbiotic relationship, in that each depends on the other for survival. (Not applicable to self-pollinating figs of course!)

Wasps are apex predators, meaning they sit at the top of their food chain and have no natural predators. As with any apex predator, if wasps begin to struggle, we should worry. Because it means that the part of the ecosystem they sit on top of, will become unbalanced. We would quickly become overrun by plant eating nuisances, which would destroy human food supplies. This could be catastrophic for the entire planet. So there is a point to wasps; and it’s a very important one.