beneficial insects

BENEFICIAL INSECTS

Amal (158190), Hafizh (156666), Aza (156519), Beth (156178)

What are beneficial insects?

Are they considered beneficial insects?

Definition:

•Beneficial insects are insects that play major roles in

reducing and controlling populations of both plants and

insects pests by acting as both predators and parasites

to these detrimental organisms

•They pollinate plants, contribute to the decay of

organic matter and the cycling of soil nutrients, and

attack other insects and mites that are considered to be

pests

•completely prevent or greatly limit pest problem

Why insects are beneficial?•Decomposers / Recyclers•Pollinators•Pest Controller •Food sources for another animal•Provide products for human •Help to maintain balanced levels of insect populations through parasitism and predation• Attacking weeds and reducing the plant’s ability to spread and to withstand diseases•Pollination of flowering plants, including honey, beeswax, silk, shellac, dyes and drugs

Example of beneficial insects

Weaver ants (Oecophylla atavina)

Green lacewing(Chrysoperla rufilabris)

Ladybug(Vibidia duodecimguttata)

Paper wasp(Polistes fuscatus)

Tachinid fly(Tachina fera)

Dragon fly(Sympetrum Flaveolum)

Firefly(Photuris lucicrescens)

Elephant beetle(Megasoma elephas)

Honey bee(Apis mellifera)

Function of Beneficial insects helps to keep the population size and density

of other insects within reasonable limits Predators are generally active in seeking out

their prey and they usually consume many individual during their lifetime

A parasitic insects on the other hand, generally attached to the body of a single host.

A more extreme form of parasitism, common in many insects, is where the parasitizing insects is attached to or within the body of a host and grows along with the host to a certain point, eventually killing the host

Predation

and

Parasitic

Insects

Function of Beneficial insects

Decomposers and

Nutrient Cycling

Dead logs and branches are attacked by termites, boring beetle larvae, and as assortment of other insects, millipede, and assorted invertebrate relatives. The nutrient recycling by insects often takes a more direct role

insects play an important role in the degradation and ultimate consumption of plant material falling into headwater streams

Scarabaidae consume great amounts of dung, up to 10 or 12 times their own weight per day, and also roll their eggs in balls of dung, so that the emerging larvae can feed on it. Usually the egg-bearing ball is rolled to a suitable location and buried by the scarab

Insects also ‘create forest gaps’

Function of Beneficial insects

InsectPollination

Sexual reproduction in the higher plants is made possible by the process of pollination

pollen being transferred from the stamens to the sigma; from the sigma a pollen tube grows down the style to the female germ cell

Without the pollinating services of bees and other insects, we would have few vegetables, few fruits, little or no clover, no coffee, no tobacco, few flowers

Function of Beneficial insects

Weed Management

feed on weed plants that are undesirable from our point of view

beneficial by destroying noxious weeds, cacti, or certain undesirable deciduous plants

weed control has been the use of insects in controlling water plants that clog streams, ponds, and lakes thereby ruining boating, fishing and swimming

Function of Beneficial insects

Commercial

Products

Honey and Beewax Honey is used extensively as a food and in the

manufacture of many products Beewax is used extensively by industry in making

candles, sealing wax, polishes, certain types of ink, models or various kinds, dental impressions, cosmetic and other products

Silk- Silk, spun by larvae of the silkworm moth , was the “ultrasheer” fabric, used primarily for hose and a wide array of garment materials

Shellac - Shellac is produced from the secretions of the lac insect, a type of scale insect occurring on fig and banyan

Dyes – Insects have been the source of dyes and drugs, but synthetic products have essentially replaced them. The cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus Costa , a scale insect somewhat similar to the mealybugs, is used for the production of cochineal dyes

Conclusion:

• Beneficial insects are great indicators in determining the forest health

•To determine whether the insects are directly beneficial or indirectly beneficial are left to human to decide so that they can be appreciated and conserved.

Reference:1.http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2329/EPP-7307web.pdf2.http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05550.pdf3.http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/339_BeneficialBugs.pdf4.http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/anr/PMC-10075.pdf5.http://ipm-dd.orst.edu/potato/bigeyedbug.pdf6.http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN83100.pdf7.http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN85900.pdf8.http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN00200.pdf