This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Thursday, 15 August 2024
Micro-wasps As Moth Control Agents?
The pest company, Rentokil, propose to use tiny ento parasitoid wasps to stop moths reproducing (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/15/minuscule-wasps-enlisted-to-fight-off-moths-in-new-pest-control-strategy). These wasps are only around 0.5mm long. They lay their eggs in the eggs of moths and butterflies, curtailing Lepidopteran reproduction. This 'biocontrol' method is being advocated as an alternative to spraying with toxic insecticides. It would, presumably, only be applicable to locations like museums, with damaging moth infections. Putting parasitoid wasps into people's homes, to deal with clothes moths is unlikely to be commercially viable. 'Biocontrol' technologies have often turned out to have unpredicted negative consequences? One obvious downside, would be the wasps 'escaping' and further damaging populations of inoffensive, already endangered butterflies.
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