Insect Basics

Beneficial Insects
Insects are not only essential for healthy ecosystems like streams, forests and
meadows, but many insects are very useful for human activities too. There are some
insects that create things that people like to use!
Insects are useful for food and clothes! You might think you have never used
insects as food but remember where honey comes from! Honey is made by bees
from the nectar they collect from flowers. ectar is mostly sugar and water. They
have a special stomach for collecting the honey nectar. !hen they return to the
hive, the other bees take the nectar and mi" it with special chemicals called
en#ymes, and then store it in wa" containers. The honey is an essential food
source for the hive. $f course the flower doesn%t produce this nectar for nothing!
!hile gathering this essential food source, the honeybee also collects pollen which
is transferred to other flowers. This is called pollination and many plants depend on
insects for this essential process.
&any insects produce silk 'shown below(, but silk worms produce massive amounts
of silk when they build their cocoons. In fact, if unraveled, the silk from a single
cocoon can be a mile long! )ilk worms are not worms at all but the caterpillars of the
silk moth Bombyx mori 'shown to the right(. $riginating in *hina, people have been
using silk from this moth for thousands of years.
There are other insects that we can use to help control "pest" bugs
rather than using chemicals.

+armers can benefit from insects that prey upon crop pests 'bugs that eat the
farmers plants( and from insects that feed on weeds that would otherwise choke their
fields. ,sing insects, instead of pesticides, to control crop pests, is called
BI$*$T-$.. In the /001s, the citrus 'orange(industry here in *alifornia was under
attack by a )cale Insect called the *ottony *ushion )cale. 2lthough biocontrol has
been used for centuries, this was the first ma3or success in large scale agriculture. 2
beetle was found, the 4562.I2 beetle from 2ustralia, which was able to bring the
pest under control.
6espite the massive success of this and similar pro3ects, the ne"t century saw the
increased use of pesticides like 66T. In the /781s more and more people became
concerned that pesticides were having e"tremely bad effects on the environment,
that they were dangerous for the workers who had to spray them on the plants, and
that the insects were becoming resistant to the chemicals. 2n e"cellent book for
learning more about this is )ilent )pring by -achel *arson.
Today Integrated 9est &anagement 'I9&( is seen as the most effective way to
combat insect pests. This method uses moderate chemicals as well as biocontrol
insects. 2lthough biocontrol is an e"cellent method for controlling insects without
putting chemicals into the environment it has its drawbacks. The biocontrol insect is
usually introduced from another part of the world so it has no natural predators or
parasites in its new habitat. It may then spread from the area where it was released
and start attacking insects that are not pests. !hatever method is used, chemical,
biocontrol or I9&, its important that scientists and farmers are very careful about
their choices and the good and bad points are carefully considered.
You can use biocontrol in your own backyard! &any plants are attacked by 2phids,
small green bugs. They pierce the plant with their needle like mouthparts and suck
the nutrients from the plant. +ortunately, ladybugs love to eat these bugs. 5ncourage
the ladybugs in your backyard. You can discourage pests like aphids without killing
ladybugs by spraying your plants with very dilute dish detergent. If you find any
ladybugs, put them on your plants!