why is an entomologist important to sociecy?

Answer 1

Entomologists study insects. So logically enough, their importance is rather proportional to the importance of insects themselves. And insects are pretty blasted important. Just take a look at the top news stories.

One of the major topics these days is disease. And though the study of diseases is more properly a different specialty, insects are certainly responsible for the spread of many of them. West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitoes, and perhaps they help the spread of avian flu as well. In some cases, insects ARE the disease, such as with the recent resurgence in bedbugs, or past quandaries involving killer bees and others.

When insects aren't infecting us, they're eating our food. Think of all the pesticides that are developed, sprayed, and banned, not to mention work on genetic engineering and other esoteric methods. All to control insects.

So are entomologists important? Only so long as we like eating and not catching horrible diseases. Not only that, some of those bugs are pretty interesting too! ( :

Answer 2

They bug me ;-)
Insects have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on earth, so it is an important specialty within biology.