Every person has encountered various insects in their life. Possessing enormous species diversity, these representatives of the animal world have mastered all habitats and natural environments. From our article you will learn what the role of insects is in nature. Everyone should know this, since some of them cause harm, while others bring tangible benefits.

Briefly about the role of insects in nature

These inhabitants of our planet belong to the class of arthropods. At this time, scientists have described more than 1.5 million of their species (according to other sources, over 2 million). This means that for every inhabitant of our planet there are 250 million individuals. The taxonomy of insects is quite complex. To put it simply, we can say that classes based on morphological characteristics are divided into orders, each of which contains tens and hundreds of species. Almost every order contains beneficial and harmful insects. Moreover, the same species can cause both harm and benefit. Let's look at this in more detail.

What role do insects and beetles play in nature?

The most numerous in nature is the order Coleoptera. Their second name is Beetles. They are characterized by a gnawing type of mouthparts. Therefore, beetles can handle even the hardest food.

What role do insects from this order play in nature? Some, for example, ladybugs, destroy aphids, a harmful pest of agricultural plants. Beauty beetles feed on caterpillars that eat leaves fruit bushes and trees.

These insects take part in soil formation processes. How is this possible? The beauties bury the corpses of small animals in manure and lay eggs on them. The larvae that emerge from them very quickly turn organic remains into humus.

But among Coleoptera there is also a large number of pests. Gardeners are well aware of the Colorado potato beetle, which mercilessly destroys potato shoots. Bark beetles make holes in the wood and make it unusable. Caryopsis beetles spoil seeds leguminous plants, kuzka - grain, weevil - root crops of sugar beets. The carpet beetle can ruin fur products. And May beetles with their larvae do not spare either the crown of trees or their roots.

Bees

The role of insects in nature and human life can be clearly seen using the example of social insects. They belong to the order Hymenoptera. Honey bees occupy a special place among them. Under the influence of special substances that are produced by specialized glands, they change chemical composition nectar. This is how honey is made. Healing properties This product is known to everyone. These insects store honey for the winter in wax cells.

The social nature of their life lies in a clear division of responsibilities among members of the bee family. It consists of a single queen, several dozen drones and tens of thousands of workers. In nature, the role of insects in this family is clearly defined. So, the queen, or queen, gives birth to offspring, drones are necessary for fertilization, and workers produce sweet nectar.

bumblebees

They are distant relatives of honey bees. My important role In nature and human life, insects of this species play as pollinators. They do this with a sign of quality. It has been noticed that after pollination by bumblebees, productivity increases twice as compared to bees. People have learned to use them in their economic activity. Bumblebee families pollinate many types of vegetable and ornamental crops in greenhouses.

Most bumblebee species are specialized. It manifests itself in the fact that insects feed on nectar only certain types plants. The most popular are clover, fireweed, and lupine. This feature explains the improvement in the quality of the pollination process, since bumblebees develop their own method of collecting nectar, depending on the structural features of the flower. Perhaps bees and bumblebees are the only insects that do not cause harm to humans. Other representatives of the order Hymenoptera, such as wasps or hornets, participate only partially in pollination. Their main food is fruits, vegetables, and other insects. Thus, hornets happily eat bees, biting off their heads. If measures are not taken in time, they can destroy a small apiary.

Ants

Each of us remembers the painful sensations that remain at the site of the bite of these insects. What role do ants play in nature? Most often positive. Through their activities, they even earned the honorary title of forest orderlies.

Ants are dangerous predators. They often look for food in dead wood. At the same time, the ants decompose it and free the forest from dust. These insects eat a lot of pests. Moreover, they do this 20 times more efficiently than birds. These insects are constantly working. Collecting various construction material for their home, they spread seeds.

Have you ever wondered why plants whose roots form under an anthill grow very quickly? The fact is that to move underground, these insects make passages. This ensures natural loosening and aeration of the soil, enriching it with organic and minerals. If you find black ants on your site, you can be sure of its quality.

Songbirds are especially fond of ants. They use these insects both as food and as a means of cleaning feathers. In zoology there is even such a concept - “ant shower”.

The glands of these insects secrete a healing substance. It's called formic acid. Ointments and tinctures based on it are recommended for the prevention of rheumatism, arthritis and neuroses. Formic acid is also used in preparations with antibacterial and antifungal effects.

However, on personal plots ants do more harm than good. They transfer aphids to plants because they feed on their sweet secretions. And aphids, in turn, feed on plant juices, as a result of which they die. If people do not take action, these insects can destroy the entire crop. In winter, ants hide aphids in their homes, and when the weather warms up, they bring them to the plants. When one dries up, they drag their nurses to the next. These activities are similar to how people herd cows.

Another harm from ants in the area is that they love to feast on not only insects, but also fruits (for example, apricots, peaches), gnaw them, get into the middle and thereby spoil the harvest.

Locust

What role do insects of this species play in nature? Everyone knows that most of them are pests Agriculture. Locusts are extremely voracious. These herbivorous insects live in meadows and steppes. Another feature of locusts is the ability to reproduce massively. As a result of this, numerous flocks are formed. They fly over long distances, sometimes covering up to several thousand kilometers. At the same time, they destroy all vegetation that they encounter along the way. This happens especially often during dry periods.

Medvedka

This insect, like the locust, is a representative of the Orthoptera order. They also provide benefits to nature - locusts serve as food for birds, lizards, and spiders.

Mole crickets are another insect that makes numerous passages in the soil and enriches the soil with oxygen. This determines their role in nature. It would be a stretch to say that thanks to the bears root system plants develop more intensively. However, the harm they cause to humans is much more significant, since these insects destroy everything in their path (roots, tubers, young shoots).

Lice

The role of this type of insect in nature is epidemiological. These are one of the few representatives of the class that only do harm. When louse settles on the scalp, it causes severe itching. Combing skin, a person damages them. This can lead to bacterial infection and the appearance of purulent formations. There are known cases where lice were carriers of relapsing and typhus.

Fleas

Representatives of this order can be recognized by their laterally flattened body and well-developed jumping limbs. In these insects, their role in nature is determined by the structural features of the oral apparatus. He is a piercing-sucking type. Fleas feed on the blood of mammals. Man is also no exception. Flea larvae can be found in floor covering or burrows of various rodents. Here they feed on organic debris.

The rat flea is especially dangerous. It is a known carrier of the plague pathogen. This insect mainly feeds on the blood of rats, but can also attack humans.

Ticks

A tick bite can lead to infection with encephalitis, borreliosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, and spotted fever. All these diseases cause serious complications. Ticks are especially active in spring. Therefore, after walking in nature during this period, it is necessary to examine the skin. If a tick is found, it must be removed. But this must be done with great caution. If you simply tear it off, the head will remain under the skin and the inflammatory process will begin. Doctors recommend anointing the penetration site with oil to limit oxygen access to the insect. In this case, the tick will leave the bite site on its own. Such an insect must be taken to the laboratory to carry out the necessary tests.

But for nature, ticks are very useful look. They regulate the number of many insects that are pests of forestry and agriculture. By decomposing organic residues, they participate in soil formation processes.

Butterflies

If a beauty contest were held among insects, these representatives would have no competitors. We are talking about butterflies. What role do insects of this order play in nature? They belong to the order Lepidoptera. Many butterflies are plant pollinators because they feed on nectar. The exception is moths, whose diet does not include plant foods. The caterpillars of some butterfly species feed only on weeds. Man has learned to use this in his economic activities. For example, in Australia, cactus moth is used to control a weed called prickly pear.

Butterflies decorate nature and make our world brighter. But at the stage of their metamorphoses, they remain for some time in the form of caterpillars. Most of them are malicious pests. Wheat, flax, winter armyworms, woodworms, cabbageweeds, hawthorns, polyflowers - all of them are notorious for every gardener.

Silkworm

The role in nature of the insect, which is the most valuable butterfly, has been appreciated by man for a long time. The silkworm has long been a domesticated species. The first mentions of it are known in Ancient China 5 thousand years ago. At this time, there was even a death penalty for disclosing the secret of the technology for making natural silk.

Nowadays you won't see the silkworm in wildlife, and all processes of its life occur under the close control of a person. The caterpillars of this butterfly feed on mulberries, but the adults do not need food at all. One larva can form a silk thread up to 2 km long.

Diptera

These insects are known to everyone due to their buzzing. The fact is that in mosquitoes and flies, the back pair of wings is turned into special club-shaped formations. They are called halteres.

Mosquitoes are known to everyone due to their bites, which cause severe itching. Only females feed on blood, which requires such food to form eggs. Moreover, there is a direct pattern. The more blood a mosquito drinks, the more eggs it will lay. It is worth remembering that mosquitoes can carry dangerous diseases: malaria, yellow fever. The benefit of mosquitoes is that their larvae serve as food for fish and other animals.

Beetles, or, as they are also called, Coleoptera, constitute one of the orders of the thriving class of modern invertebrate animals on Earth - insects. Bugs are ubiquitous. They can be found in any place, even seemingly unsuitable for life. They live in soil and water, on flowers, grasses and tall trees, in the hot sands of deserts and in the swampy subpolar tundras. Beetles are found in animal burrows and bird nests, in food supplies and in tree trunks.

Among the beetles there are orderlies of nature who destroy manure and animal corpses, destroy thin branches falling from trees and turn mighty tree trunks into dust. There are bugs that are harmful to humans: they destroy wooden buildings, they eat grain in warehouses, potatoes and vegetables in vegetable gardens, fruits and berries in orchards. But there are also useful ones. Many predatory beetle species eat harmful insects, sometimes acting as crop protectors.

Special group beetles are species that have adapted to life in human dwellings and buildings. They are called synanthropic. Among them are famous lovers of woolen carpets and fur coats, museum collections and antique furniture.

Like other insects, beetles have a chitinous covering that forms an external skeleton. In them it is especially well developed, which gives them special strength and serves as good protection.

The body of beetles, like all other insects, consists of three main sections: the head, thorax and abdomen. The chest, in turn, is divided into three parts: the anterior (prothorax), middle (mesothorax) and posterior (methothorax). The prothorax is the most developed. It is movably articulated with the head and mesothorax. The mesothorax is fixedly attached to the metathorax, and the metathorax to the abdomen. The entire dorsal part (tergite) of the mesothorax, with the exception of a small triangular formation - the scutellum, is hidden under the elytra.

The two pairs of wings have completely different structures and purposes. The front (upper) wings are attached to the mesothorax. They are dense and leathery, devoid of veins and are called elytra, or elytra. The tergite holds the bases of the elytra together when they are folded. During flight, the elytra remain motionless and raised, playing the same role as the stabilizer on airplanes - they provide balance to the flying body. Their equally important purpose is to cover and protect the large membranous hind wings folding lengthwise and crosswise. These wings represent the main aircraft Zhukov. They are called flight ones. Usually they are transparent, with veins, which have the same purpose as the backs of an umbrella - they give the entire plane of the wing the necessary rigidity.

There are, however, beetles that do not have flight wings, as a result of which they will never take to the air. And female fireflies don’t even have wing covers.

Beetles are characterized by complete transformation. This means that any of them develops sequentially in four stages. After mating, the female lays eggs - this is the first stage. A mobile larva emerges from the egg—the second stage. While feeding, the larva grows, shedding its skin from time to time. After several molts, it turns into a pupa. The pupa is motionless; Only when you disturb her does she begin to bend restlessly from side to side. At the pupal stage it occurs magical transformation larvae into an adult beetle - imago. With the appearance of a young beetle it ends life cycle development. If an insect goes through one such cycle over the summer, then the species is said to develop in one generation or have one generation. Some species manage to form two or even three generations in a season. Others, on the contrary, require several years to fully develop.

The body color of beetles is very diverse. It depends on the presence of coloring substances - pigments - in the integument of the body and on the structural features of the integument. Even within the same species, individuals can vary greatly in color and tone. This is what explains the differences in the description of the color of one type of beetle by different authors. The same can be said about the size of the beetles. Among our beetles there are pygmies, less than a millimeter in size (featherwings), there are also giants, reaching 15 or more centimeters (Hercules, relic woodcutter). But even within the same species, the body size of different individuals can vary greatly, which is most often associated with their nutrition at the larval stage.

The coloring of male and female beetles is also often different. In some cases, individuals of different sexes differ in surface structure and appearance. In males, various outgrowths in the form of claws, horns, growths are often clearly visible on the body various shapes. All these formations most often serve the purpose of protection and are used during the struggle for possession of the female. The external dissimilarity between a female and a male is called sexual dimorphism.

Beetle eggs are usually oval, translucent, and light in color. Larvae with a well-developed head and gnawing mouthparts lead a predominantly secretive lifestyle. As a rule, they differ sharply in appearance from adult individuals, but in some species of beetles they are similar to them, although they lack wings. Pupation at different types usually occurs in shelters: in the ground, under the bark or in the wood of trees where the larvae lived. Before pupating, the beetle larvae make a so-called cradle - a kind of nest, where, under the sewing up of its shell, the mystery of transformation - metamorphosis - takes place. Most aquatic insects also pupate in the ground along the banks of reservoirs.

Some readers may find all these details unnecessary. But not entomologists, specialists who have dedicated their lives to the study of insects. It is by the totality of external (morphological) characteristics, lifestyle, and behavior that they distinguish one species from another. Sometimes such differences are so small and unnoticeable that they are discovered only by highly qualified taxonomists. Usually in the world for each separate group There are only a few such specialists in insect research, and they work in well-known museums or zoological institutes. It is they who are turned to when necessary to recognize little-known insects. There are excellent entomologists and taxonomists among amateurs. Each of them has their own home collection, sometimes exceeding in number collected species state collections. There are especially many collectors who collect butterflies and beetles. The latter are called coleopterologists (from Latin name order of beetles - Coleoptera).

The biology of beetles is very diverse. In this respect they are superior to almost all other orders of insects. All beetles have gnawing mouthparts, which allows them to feed on a wide variety of food: from soft, raw food to extremely hard, dry food. Among them there are carnivores (predators and corpse eaters) and herbivorous forms (phytophages), which can feed on different organs of the most various plants. There are also saprophages; their favorite food is decomposed, rotted organic remains.

No one knows how many species of beetles live on our planet. At least more than 300 thousand have been described, although in reality there are almost certainly 2–3 times more. This is confirmed by the results of recent studies conducted in tropical forests. There, using the “toxic knockdown” method, i.e. While applying a pesticide to dense, closed crowns using a helicopter, under their canopy on pre-spread bedding, entomologists discovered an unimaginable number of hitherto unknown species of insects, including beetles. Calculations have shown that the number of new species is 2-3 times higher than the number of insects previously known here.

On the territory of Russia and neighboring countries (within former USSR) entomologists count over 20 thousand species of beetles, uniting them into almost 90 families. Representatives of each family are characterized by morphological, biological and behavioral characteristics unique to them. There are large families, uniting thousands of species, and there are small ones, in which only a few species are known.

On this site you will get acquainted with more than 40 species of beetles. It is difficult to accurately describe the habitat boundaries of each beetle species. Their life zones—areas—usually cover the territories of a number of neighboring countries. We will not point out every time that the given data on the number of species in a particular family refer to the territory of the former USSR. But this should not be forgotten, since some species live, for example, only in Central Asia, and some only in Transcaucasia.

As for those described on the site individual species beetles, then they are all inhabitants of Russian spaces: forests, gardens, fields, ponds. Among them are our immediate neighbors, who can be found inside homes, in a bag of flour or dried mushrooms, in wooden wall at home or in an antique piano. These are the most common and typical species of beetles for the fauna of Russia - representatives of 24 families.

Entomologists use different rules and systems for the sequential arrangement of families in their description, including beetles. For the convenience of readers on our website they are arranged in the Russian alphabet.

To the question Why does nature need insects? given by the author ღツღLenie ღツღ the best answer is Benefits from insects
Insects are very prolific. Naturally, their influence on nature is enormous. Let's talk now about their benefits.
The most important function of insects is pollination of flowering plants. Flowering plants- This is the main source of both food and moisture for most insects. And at the same time, most flowering plants (namely, those with cross-pollination) depend on pollinating insects.
All bright, from afar conspicuous flowers- these are “ads” that plants use to attract insects. Insects are also attracted by their aroma.

Each corolla of a flower has a pistil in the middle, and around it are stamens, the ends of which (anthers) are filled with pollen. In order for a plant with cross-pollination to bear fruit, it must be pollinated: make sure that pollen from one flower lands on the stigma (upper part of the pistil) of another. And it is the insects that visit flowers that provide such pollination.
Insects visit flowers to collect pollen (some beetles, many Hymenoptera) or for sweet nectar (flies, butterflies, many Hymenoptera).
Sometimes insects use flower corollas as shelter or climb into inflorescences to nest their offspring there. And all types of insect visits to flowers are used by plants to ensure pollination.
Many plants reproduce only through pollination by insects. And we get harvests!
* * *
The honey bee, mulberry and oak moths, varnish bugs and cochineal are examples of semi-domesticated insects bred by humans for the products they provide.
Let's remember how many benefits bees bring to humans! Honey, propolis, wax... When building a cocoon, silkworm caterpillars secrete silk, from which delicate silk fabrics are spun.
Another silkworm, the Chinese oak moth, also produces a thread that is even stronger. A very valuable product - shellac - is provided by those living on the row tree species lac bugs from southeast Asia. The wax-like substances released by them have exceptional electrical insulating properties and are widely used in radio engineering.
Other scale insects produce paint in a similar way.
Many insects are important soil formers: destroyers of fallen leaves and pine needles, dead wood, and manure.
For example, there was such an interesting case in the history of Australian agriculture. Some pastures began to die due to the fact that piles of non-decomposing and impeding the growth of grass had accumulated on the soil surface cow dung. It turned out that there were no dung beetles there. They brought in dung beetles - and this quickly led to the decomposition of accumulations of manure and to a large increase in the yield of pastures that had begun to fall into disrepair.
And in addition to all of the above, we will also remember the aesthetic role of butterflies, dragonflies and other insects that decorate our nature!

Irina Leonidovna Ermolaeva, a specialist in plant protection from pests and diseases, tells the story.

In our gardens there are not only visible enemies, but also friends. These are various predatory beetles, ground beetles, hoverflies, ladybugs, ants and spiders, which, while feeding, invisibly help us by destroying pests at different stages of development.

To attract beneficial insects and to stimulate them active work nectar plants should be sown, i.e. plants that attract such helpers. These are phacelia, mustard, buckwheat, carrot seeds, onions, etc. Moreover, it is necessary to create a flower-nectar conveyor - sow them in different terms in the aisles or in empty spaces.

Tahina fly

One of the many beneficial insects is the tahina fly. The range of pests it destroys is simply huge, and its efficiency is high. Suffice it to say that the number of silkworms, sawflies, leaf rollers, moths, and tahini moths is kept under constant control. The survival and accumulation of these flies is facilitated by the presence of flowering carrots, parsnips, honey and other umbelliferous crops.

The body of tahine flies is usually covered with strong bristles, and therefore they are also called hedge flies. The family of tahina flies includes about 5 thousand species.

Tachin flies find their hosts in different ways. Some types of flies lay their very small eggs on the surface of a leaf, where the caterpillar feeds. Caterpillars, eating a leaf, swallow eggs, then larvae appear inside the caterpillar, which feed on the body of the host insect, which leads to its death. Other species lay eggs directly into the body of the host insect. And finally, there are species of tachinas, the larvae of which find a host themselves and gnaw into his body.

Tahini flies lay a large number of eggs, and therefore one fly can kill many caterpillars.

Ants and spiders

Ants and spiders do a great job of killing pests. You can sow coriander and anise next to cabbage. When sown at the same time, they bloom from May to September. Their flowers feed many beneficial insects and do not attract butterflies, whose caterpillars damage cabbage.

Ants are orderlies. They build their homes in and above the soil and are of great benefit. Numerous ant passages make the soil looser, and this improves breathing conditions for plant roots. While getting food for themselves, ants bring a huge number of insect pests and their larvae into the passages and chambers of the anthill: the inhabitants of just one anthill destroy on average up to 20 million garden pests per year. But it is worth monitoring the increase in the number of ants, this can lead to oppression of the garden, and because of the favorite delicacy of ants, which is secreted by aphids, they also contribute to the settlement of aphid colonies. Here you need to think about whether it is worth leaving ants in your areas or not.

Spiders. A significant part of the prey of spiders of the families of jumping spiders (Salticidae), funnel-web spiders (Agelenidae), wolf spiders (Licosidae), and side-walking spiders (Thomisidae) consists of such dangerous pests, like a harmful turtle, Colorado potato beetle, meadow moth, different kinds moths, many dipterans.

Attention! I would like to warn you that beneficial insects, like pests, overwinter in the bark, leaves, and soil garden plot. And in the summer, you shouldn’t catch all the insects you see in the garden, because you can leave the garden without defenders - beneficial insects, which are called entomophages.

ladybugs

Everyone knows what a ladybug looks like, but not everyone knows what benefits it brings. She is prolific and lays eggs in small groups of 30, the eggs are yellow, similar to the eggs of the Colorado potato beetle and hawthorn butterfly.

An adult beetle eats 100–200 aphids per day; the larvae are ten times more voracious than mites, whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) and scale insects (Coccoidea).

Ladybugs will be attracted to our garden by plants of the Asteraceae family: daisies, tansy, or yarrow.

Ladybug larva

Ground beetles

These workers can be seen in the process of digging or loosening the soil. These are nocturnal predators that hunt insects living in the soil: pupae of fire butterflies, moths, larvae of click beetles (wireworms), and gall midges. Destroy slugs and caterpillars. The menu of one ground beetle per day is about one hundred moth larvae, 5 adult moth caterpillars and 5–6 weevil larvae. And the larvae are much more voracious than adults; they sit in dug holes and grab insects crawling by.

To have more ground beetles in the garden, take care of soil fertility. Those. apply in spring and autumn organic fertilizers, humus, etc.

Lacewing

This is a gentle and slender insect. The color is soft green. Adult insects feed on flower nectar, aphid honeydew, pollen, as well as the mites and aphids themselves, destroying up to 4,000 individuals per day. The larvae suck spider mites and aphids. The lacewing prefers cool conditions for breeding. shady places, covered with thickets of fern.

Ktyri flies

The two-centimeter black fly cannot be confused with any other fly. Powerful paws armed with bristles and suckers. A strong proboscis, pointed at the end, protrudes from the flattened head. They can pierce even such a strong shell as beetles have.

Ktyri, destroying a lot of harmful insects, bring undoubted benefits. Their menu includes beetles, flies, flies, leafhoppers, butterflies and even caterpillars. Not only adult insects are useful, but also larvae that live in the soil and destroy the larvae of click beetles, beetles and darkling beetles, locust eggs and caterpillars that gnaw at the cutworm.

Interesting. The largest birds reach 5 centimeters. You should not touch the birds with your hands - their bite is as painful as a bee sting.

Such flies are attracted to plants from the aster family - goldenrod, chamomile, daisies, as well as various types of mint - catnip, peppermint and spearmint.

Trichogramma

This is an egg eater, the mass reproduction of which has already been put on an industrial basis. Trichogramma females lay their eggs in the eggs of many pests - codling moth, yellow and pale-legged gooseberry sawfly, meadow moth, cabbage cutworm, cabbage whitefly and others.

Since these insects are very small, they take nectar from small open flowers such as anise and dill. Plants of the celery family provide a good shelter for them.

From the above it follows that the more nurse plants you have in your garden, the fewer problems you will have with pests. These plants can be placed along the edges of the garden or border areas with vegetables. Plant species should be selected so that they bloom for a long time, replacing each other. Marigolds, alyssum, tansy, chamomile, and daisies are suitable for this. Savory, lavender, hyssop, basil, rosemary, and oregano bloom for a long time.

We can name many more beneficial insects - our helpers. But their number is still less than that of pests. Birds, frogs and toads, dragonflies, spiders - many animals help keep your garden pest-free and healthy. But they themselves do not have protection from chemicals.

Chemical treatments primarily destroy beneficial insects, since for a number of reasons they are more sensitive to chemicals and, in addition, their numbers are much smaller. Against the background of an abundant food supply and the absence of natural enemies, the pests remaining after treatment begin to multiply intensively. First of all, this applies to sucking pests - aphids and mites, which produce several generations during the growing season.

This information is for chemistry lovers and for those who consider it necessary to destroy everything that flies, crawls, and jumps around the site.

Why are pests needed in nature?

When we destroy rats, mosquitoes, horseflies and other creatures that are harmful from our point of view, we reason that they do not bring any benefit, therefore their death is justified. Well, what does a mosquito live for? It bites, causes allergies and spreads diseases. And the rat? She lives in garbage dumps, carries severe infections, destroys food, and it would be better without her. Is this really so, and what is the role of these pests in nature?

What are mosquitoes for?

Mosquitoes are food for other animals, for example, dragonflies, bats, frogs, and some birds, for example, swifts, waders, dawns, tits, nightingales. Mosquito larvae eat fish, which is an important element of their diet. For example, bloodworms are the larvae of mosquitoes of the species Chironomidae and Tendipedidae. If they are not in the reservoir, then the nutrition of the fish in this reservoir will be greatly affected.

Some mosquito repellents, for example, Biolarvitsid-100, are specifically designed to destroy the population by affecting the larvae in the water. If this happens in a damp basement, then this is one thing, but if in a pond or other body of water, you can achieve that by destroying mosquitoes thoughtlessly, you will also destroy all the fish, as was the case in the 60s in the Ob River basin, where the destruction of mosquitoes led to because the fish, whose fry fed on mosquito larvae, disappeared.

What are rats for?

In nature there is no concept of “unwanted species”; one is food for another

Are there any benefits to rats? Yes, remembering the cartoon “Ratatouille”, one would like to say that in France, rats cook food. But this is a joke, what do we know about rats? Only that they multiply with enchanting speed, take root wherever possible, are extremely smart and quick-witted, have good physical characteristics, jump, run and swim well. In addition, they carry many diseases dangerous to humans and animals, cause enormous economic damage, etc. That is why many people prefer not to drive out rats with the help of harmless rats, but to destroy them forever with the help of poisons or traps.

However, humans are primarily to blame for the spread of rats. In cities where rats have chosen garbage dumps and basements, there are practically no natural enemies, birds of prey and animals, and accumulations of garbage only improve the living conditions of rodents. In their natural wild environment, rats do not fatten like that; they are eaten by owls and eagle owls, storks and other birds, ferrets, weasels, etc. So one species of animal is the food of another species of animal.

The white rat is a very important animal for biological research. No matter how it looks, thanks to her, new effective medicines are being discovered, since her susceptibility to diseases is similar to that of humans.

What are mice for?

Like rats, mice are food for other animals. And although mice have no direct benefit to humans, it is impossible to say that a mouse on the ground is useless. Yes, they destroy the harvest, yes, they spoil things, yes, they spread infection, but this is a human perspective, but what if you look from the perspective of other creatures? As it is written in Leo Tolstoy’s story “Why do we need mice,” if someone wanted to exterminate all the mice, then a bunch of animals would come to ask for them. For example, foxes would come to complain that now they have nothing to eat, and they will have to steal hens and chicks, partridges and black grouse would complain that foxes are ruining their nests, because they have stopped eating mice.

Like rats, mice are also used for tests and experiments in laboratory conditions. So mice are needed both by humans and in nature, and if there are too many of them in your area, then perhaps their natural enemies have decreased, you will have to expel the mice with ultrasound or set mousetraps.

What are horseflies needed for?

Is this really a dead-end question? Well, could there be any benefit from horse flies? Everyone knows that horseflies bite painfully, an itchy wound appears at the site of the bite, and part of the body may swell from an allergic reaction. In addition, horseflies can carry dangerous diseases, so why feel sorry for them?

As always, there are a few things to figure out. Let's start with the fact that not all horseflies bite. Like mosquitoes, horseflies' bloodsuckers are females, while males prefer to drink flower nectar and are completely harmless. However, people eliminate horse flies by creating traps for them, such as the H-Trap. This is done not so much for the sake of the people themselves, but for the sake of domestic animals, horses, cows and others. They suffer the most from bites, and the presence of such traps on farms is understandable.

But is there any benefit from horse flies? It turns out there is. They are an important link in natural food chains. Insectivorous birds feed on them; in addition, horseflies participate in plant pollination. If horseflies are destroyed in large quantities, the ecological balance will be disrupted.

What are moles for?

Moles for the most part do not harm agriculture and gardening, as is commonly believed. On the contrary, moles loosen the soil, providing oxygen and water access to the soil. In addition, moles eat underground insects, pupae, caterpillars and other pests, as well as small animals if they find themselves in its hole. The harm from them is not so great; their main diet is earthworms, which also loosen and process the soil.

A real mole is not interested in root crops and roots of garden plants; it does not feed on them; they are gnawed mainly by mice and mouse-like rodents, and not moles at all. For that matter, the mole is not a rodent at all. He doesn't need to sharpen his incisors, which are quite small.

The only time you want to get rid of a mole is when it starts digging up the lawns, leaving high molehills on them. It spoils appearance plot, and the owners prefer to kick the mole out. In this case, it is humane not to catch the mole in a trap, but simply install 2-3 or more earth-moving pest repellers, such as Tornado OZV.01 or Tornado OZV.02, on the site.

What are cockroaches for?

If you are unhappy that cockroaches have settled in your house, then most likely it is your own fault, you do not fix the leaking water supply, do not remove leftover food, or do not take out the trash on time. Why are cockroaches harmful? They spread infection, you say. Well, they're not actually more contagious than your cat or dog, and you're not going to exterminate them.

The cockroach is very small, non-venomous and completely defenseless against humans; all its weapons are a disgusting species. Some people can’t even kill a cockroach out of disgust, so they use poisonous baits and all sorts of things. Meanwhile, insectivorous birds and small animals eat cockroaches. There is evidence that bedbugs cannot live in a house where there are cockroaches, so in ancient times the Germans specially introduced cockroaches into their houses in order to destroy bedbugs, since cockroaches eat their eggs. After all, it is much easier to remove cockroaches than to remove bedbugs.

So, in nature, everything is interconnected, by destroying one type of pest, you destroy someone’s food, leaving someone without food. However, this does not mean that you do not need to get rid of pests, it is only important to do it wisely.

Publ.: 2013-06-13

Changed: 2017-09-12

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  Ultrasonic repeller rodents SD-002 has a protection area of ​​up to 400 sq. m. It is used against rats and mice, and repels cockroaches, ants and other insects. Power supply: mains.

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