Why have there been so many wasps around Missoula recently?
MISSOULA — Have you also noticed a lot of wasps around the past couple of weeks?
Whether it's at home, downtown, at work, or by the river, there seem to be wasps everywhere. But why is this?
"Beekeepers have noticed a high volume of loss this year. So I don't think, you know, you're wrong in having that observation. It seems like others are experiencing that as well" said Alyssa Piccolomini, state entomologist for the State of Montana.
Piccolomini went on to explain that because of the unusually wet and hot summer we had — mainly July — the wasp population ended up being larger than last year.
Although she did note she doesn't have specific numbers to back that up, just an observation. Why did a hot and wet July lead to a larger population though? What is a wasps life cycle anyways?
"A reproductive female will found a colony in the spring. And then throughout the season, more and more workers build up and it's pretty much peaked out in late summer" said Marirose Kuhlman, habitat coordinator at Missoula County Department of Ecology.
She also went on to explain why the wasps have been out and about the past couple of weeks.
"And in late summer also is when we have a lot of resources, but they're starting to decline. And because of that, the and by resources, I mean, flowers, decomposing things, other insects and the colony is reaching the end of its life span," explained Kuhlman. "And so with the declining resources and a high population, Wasps are just kind of angry and a little more defensive of the resources that are remaining."
Now, with all of this, you may be asking what are wasps even good for? Kuhlman explained that they're vital to our ecosystem, helping control agricultural pests. She did offer this advice if you do encounter a wasp.
"You're so much bigger than a wasp. They don't want to tangle with you and, and so it's good to respect them, but people should pay attention to wasps and watch what they do. They're just fascinating creatures and they're really important in our ecosystems."
