Scientists have sounded the alarm after a study found parasitic wasps from Europe on both the East and West Coasts of the United States.
While parasitic wasps can offer important ecological benefits, such as keeping insect populations in check, the invasive parasites could negatively impact native wasp species.
What’s happening?
The invasive wasps, Bootanomyia dorsalis, measure just millimeters in size, but their impact could be enormous.
Though they receive little public attention compared to other insects, parasitic wasps are incredibly diverse and are important to the ecological health of everything from forests to crops.
“Parasitic wasps are likely the most diverse group of animals on the planet and are extremely important in ecological systems, acting as biological control agents to keep insects in check, including those that are crop or forest pests,” explained Kirsten Prior, a researcher from Binghamton University who was involved in the study, per Bing U News.
However, the invasive wasps from Europe pose a potentially existential threat to native wasp populations, threatening ecological balance.
The European wasp reproduces by laying eggs inside living plants and animals, according to Popular Science.
Meanwhile, native gall wasps lay their eggs in tumor-like growths on oak trees known as “galls,” which can vary widely in size and shape, from as small as a pinhead to as large as an apple, according to Bing U News.
The European invaders disrupt this reproductive process by laying their own eggs inside of other species’ galls. When the invasive wasps’ eggs hatch, the critters eat the native wasps’ young for food.
“We did find that they can parasitize multiple oak gall wasp species and that they can spread,” Prior said, per Bing U News. “They could be affecting populations of native oak gall wasp species or other native parasites of oak gall wasps.”
The researchers further found that the invasive wasps had been introduced to the U.S. at least twice. This was evident because the East Coast and West Coast versions were different.
Why are invasive species important?
The research into parasitic wasps serves as a reminder of the destructive impact that invasive species can have on local ecosystems.
Invasive species often outcompete native plants and animals, impacting food supplies, spreading deadly diseases, disrupting trade, and hurting local economies.
According to a 2019 study, invasive species have been the primary driver of extinctions over the past 500 years, having played a key role in roughly 300 extinctions. In 42% of those extinctions, invasive species were the sole cause.
The spread of invasive species has been fueled in recent decades by rising global temperatures, which allow some plants and animals to survive and even thrive in regions where they previously could not, primarily because temperatures were not hospitable.
What’s being done about invasive species?
The first step in addressing invasive species is to identify them and track their spread, as the Binghamton researchers have done with B. dorsalis.
This information allows officials to create policies and programs to restrict the spread of invasive species and minimize their negative impacts.
To help protect against invasive species and strengthen local ecosystems, there are plenty of steps that you can take right in your own backyard.
For example, by planting a native garden or rewilding your yard, you can save money on water and landscaping costs while also providing vital food and habitat for native pollinators, birds, and even small mammals.
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