What purpose do wasps have on this planet apart from stinging people?

Answer 1

Most wasp species are predators. Their function is in the control of many other insect species. They are actually very effective parasitoids, and because of this efficiency they have been used for decades as biological control agents. Many crop pests including hornworms and scale insects which cost millions of dollars in loss annulally are controled by wasps. Without these predators, tomatoes, oranges, tobacco, and many other important crops would be so scarce that the price of them would skyrocket.
Their method of efficiency is that they will lay one egg on the back of a caterpillar, and throught the process of polyembrony, the egg multiplies itself, producing hundreds of larvae. These larvae hatch, kill the caterpillar, and pupate. Once development is compltete, the newly formed wasps will emerge and go out in search of their own caterpillar to deposit eggs on. After a year, there are millions of these wasps and they are naturally able to control the number of potentially devastating pest species.
In nature, most moths and beetles have some species of wasp that is their specific parasitoid. Without these parasitoids, longhorn beetles would reduce the forest to sawdust and caterpillars would strip every leaf off of every plant they can find. Wasps act to control theri numbers, and keep a balance between the pests and the hosts.
Certain wasps, like yellow jackets (the ones by the picnic table) are actually pollinators and ensure the survival of many plant species, just like their very close relatives, the bees.


I hope that answers your question!

Answer 2

Wasps Purpose

Answer 3

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RE:
What purpose do wasps have on this planet apart from stinging people?

Answer 4

There are many different kinds of wasps. Some are parasites of other insects and some are scavengers. In Science purpose means nothing. Wasps occur because they can do so. They fill a niche. They are not here to sting people

Answer 5

Everything alive has a certain purpose. Wasp kill other insects, some that are harmful. Without wasps there be an over abundance of insects. Wasps are for the most part beneficial.

Answer 6

First of all wasps don't sting people for the sake of stinging people. And there is no such thing as an evil creature, for animals are neither good nor evil. Only humans are either good or evil. They are hundreds of species of wasps and like any animal they have their place in the ecosystem. Like bees they do eat pollen and nectar, but they are also predatory and parasitic. Both predatory and parasitic wasps help control the population of insects and spiders. So they are beneficial.

Answer 7

Depends what you mean by "purpose". You might as well ask "what purpose do people have on this planet apart from squashing wasps?"

Like every other organism, they are here to survive, and if they don't they disappear.

If you mean "what good are they to people", they are scavengers and predators so a lot of other insects that might cause problems get eaten; likewise rotting fruit and other nasties.

Answer 8

Like Bees they help to pollinate flowers. There is a certain type of wasp that stings and paralyses caterpillars and then lays It's eggs inside. When the eggs hatch, the young eat their way out of the still live Caterpillar. This is were they got the idea for the chestburster in the film Alien.

Answer 9

when we, in Summer, consider ourselves blithely superior to any other creatures which bless our planet, we are brought up sharply out of the blue by a flash of yellow and black. A lesson in humility I think. Bring em on

Answer 10

To make mustard! Bees make honey, thats given. But not alot of people know that Wasps can make mustard- its a bitter tasting mustard, but its a delicacy in some parts of France.