Nobody likes creepy crawlies and the bugs that bite us. Well, we say nobody, there are those with a bias for spider keeping and the like, and we take our hats off to their tolerance of all things nasty. We digress, though, for most of us, there exist two natural responses to most encounters with anything with too many legs. It’s a matter of squash them or burning down the house and moving to a different country. Even general cleaning practices will entice us to eliminate anything that possesses a creep-factor.
Being die-hard sufferers of entomophobia, even our search histories contain different phrasings of ‘pest control clearwater fl’. It may then come as a surprise that we are about to advocate sparing the lives of numerous bugs. The reality is that even though bugs give us the creeps, most of them serve an important ecological function, and whilst there are insects and the like that you could kill without inciting an apocalypse, many form a necessary part of a functional ecosystem.
Stink Bugs
Although they are not exactly all that ghastly looking of insects, it is easy to understand why anyone may be in favour of getting rid of them. Like the name says, they stink. More precisely, they release malodorous chemicals as a defence mechanism. Aside from being the skunks of the insect kingdom, these little nasties are also preferably integral to maintaining a balance in both nature and your garden. They prey on various leaf eating grubs, like caterpillars, ensuring that your plants stand a better chance against predation.
Spiders
Of all things nightmarish, spiders are the absolute worst. The sight of a spider is enough to make one’s skin crawl, and there are no subspecies that dons a tolerable facade. They are simply the literal stuff of nightmares. They also potentially save lives. An odd concept to wrap one’s head around, spiders feed on many insects, particularly the flying variety, that spread germs and disease. Spiders are even capable of decreasing the spread of malaria.
Just as sharks are indicative of a healthy coral reef, spiders are present in just about every healthy ecosystem, and for any ecosystem to remain healthy, it needs its predators. Removing spiders from an environment can theoretically lead to a complete ecological collapse.
Bees
Bees are a bit harder to hate objectively. They are certainly not as hideous as many of their six-legged peers. The one thing that does put people off is the prospect of being stung by bees. In truth, the likelihood of being stung without having agitated a bee is relatively low. Most bees die when they sting you. This is not ideal for a species that is facing possible extinction. Perhaps more concerning yet are the prospective consequences of the demise of bees. The reality of the matter is that we need to take deliberate action to counteract this eventuality.
Many, if not most plants depend on various subspecies of bees for pollination. Without bees, we face the risk of the death of a substantial subset of plant life, which would, of course, be a catastrophic outcome for the rest of life on earth.