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What Good Are Bugs?: Insects in the Web of Life
We shriek about them, slap and spray them, and generally think of insects (when we think of them at all) as pests. Yet, if all insects, or even a critical few, were to disappear--if there were none to pollinate plants, serve as food for other animals, dispose of dead organisms, and perform other ecologically essential tasks--virtually all the ecosystems on earth, the webs of life, would unravel. This book, the first to catalogue ecologically important insects by their roles, gives us an enlightening look at how insects work in ecosystems--what they do, how they live, and how they make life as we know it possible.
In What Good Are Bugs? Gilbert Waldbauer combines anecdotes from entomological history with insights into the intimate workings of the natural world, describing the intriguing and sometimes amazing behavior of these tiny creatures. He weaves a colorful, richly textured picture of beneficial insect life on earth, from ants sowing their "hanging gardens" on Amazonian shrubs and trees to the sacred scarab of ancient Egypt burying balls of cattle dung full of undigested seeds, from the cactus-eating caterpillar (aptly called Cactoblastis ) controlling the spread of the prickly pear to the prodigious honey bee and the "sanitary officers of the field"--the fly maggots, ants, beetles, and caterpillars that help decompose and recycle dung, carrion, and dead plants. As entertaining as it is informative, this charmingly illustrated volume captures the full sweep of insects' integral place in the web of life.
In What Good Are Bugs? Gilbert Waldbauer combines anecdotes from entomological history with insights into the intimate workings of the natural world, describing the intriguing and sometimes amazing behavior of these tiny creatures. He weaves a colorful, richly textured picture of beneficial insect life on earth, from ants sowing their "hanging gardens" on Amazonian shrubs and trees to the sacred scarab of ancient Egypt burying balls of cattle dung full of undigested seeds, from the cactus-eating caterpillar (aptly called Cactoblastis ) controlling the spread of the prickly pear to the prodigious honey bee and the "sanitary officers of the field"--the fly maggots, ants, beetles, and caterpillars that help decompose and recycle dung, carrion, and dead plants. As entertaining as it is informative, this charmingly illustrated volume captures the full sweep of insects' integral place in the web of life.
- GenresNatureNonfiction
384 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 2, 2019
Readable, informative, fascinating
Of course, we know what bugs are good for, but just in case there is anybody out there who doesn't, Professor Waldbauer makes an elaborate argument in twelve chapters under four general headings: Helping Plants, Helping Animals, Limiting Population Growth, and Cleaning Up. Waldbauer manages to be fascinating, as indeed, I think an entomologist ought to be, since insects really are something amazing, as well as thorough, but never boring or tedious. He has that rare gift of being able to present the reader with a lot of information and to make it clear, interesting, and a pleasure to read. One is left with the overwhelming conviction that without bugs we humans could not exist, period. Next to microbial life, bugs form the most fundamental life force on this planet, and like the microbes, they will be here long after we are gone. We need to make our peace with them, and join with them in keeping the planet's life in balance.
The subtitle, "Insects in the Web of Life," really says what this book is about as well as it can be said in just a few words: all life forms are interconnected and interdependent and part of the larger web of life. It isn't just the pollination of our plants by insects that is irreplaceable, nor their control of one another, nor their policing of the landscape, nor even their position near the base of the entire food chain that serves us, but it is their gigantic presence in nearly all the diverse ecologies of the planet that cannot be replaced. Remove the insects and the entire eco-structure collapses. Demonstrating this truth, Waldbauer's text emphasizes how bugs interact especially with plants, how plants take advantage of them as well as how they take advantage of plants for subsistence and reproduction, and how in many cases a symbiosis has been reached so that plant and animal work together for their mutual good. The stories of ants protecting trees and of wasps and bees and others pollinating plants are marvelous tales of intricate mutualisms honed by nature over the eons, tales so startling as to defy belief, except that we know they are true. An orchid shaped like female insect, giving off the female pheromone so as to entice the male insect to "mate" in order to spread the plant's pollen, is one example. The nutritious elaisomes that grow on the seeds of plants that attract and feed ants so that they might distribute the plant's seeds and even protect the plant from predators, is another. The ants that live on acacias that can actually smell large animals (including humans) and thereby congregate on the branches nearest the approaching animal ready to swarm and bite should the animal dare to touch the tree, is still another.
Along the way, Waldbauer shows us what bugs and their stories can teach us about the nature of life itself--what life is truly like beyond the artificial confines of human culture--and not so incidentally, about ourselves, if we care to recognize the many affinities between our lives, especially our economic lives, and that of bugs, most notably of course the social insects who herd animals, plant crops and harvest them, who fight battles and construct dwellings.
I could go on and on, but just let me say that this is the most informative book on bugs that I have ever read (and I've read dozens) and one of the most readable. Moreover it is beautifully designed (by Marianne Perlak) and beautifully edited (by Nancy Clemente). The black, white and gray illustrations of bugs and plants by Meredith Waterstraat are elegant and serve as a fine complement to the text. This book should win some awards. It is the kind of book you might want to buy for yourself and to give as a present to anyone interested in nature from gardeners to professors of biology. This is a gem that can be appreciated by and benefit both professionals and the general public.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Of course, we know what bugs are good for, but just in case there is anybody out there who doesn't, Professor Waldbauer makes an elaborate argument in twelve chapters under four general headings: Helping Plants, Helping Animals, Limiting Population Growth, and Cleaning Up. Waldbauer manages to be fascinating, as indeed, I think an entomologist ought to be, since insects really are something amazing, as well as thorough, but never boring or tedious. He has that rare gift of being able to present the reader with a lot of information and to make it clear, interesting, and a pleasure to read. One is left with the overwhelming conviction that without bugs we humans could not exist, period. Next to microbial life, bugs form the most fundamental life force on this planet, and like the microbes, they will be here long after we are gone. We need to make our peace with them, and join with them in keeping the planet's life in balance.
The subtitle, "Insects in the Web of Life," really says what this book is about as well as it can be said in just a few words: all life forms are interconnected and interdependent and part of the larger web of life. It isn't just the pollination of our plants by insects that is irreplaceable, nor their control of one another, nor their policing of the landscape, nor even their position near the base of the entire food chain that serves us, but it is their gigantic presence in nearly all the diverse ecologies of the planet that cannot be replaced. Remove the insects and the entire eco-structure collapses. Demonstrating this truth, Waldbauer's text emphasizes how bugs interact especially with plants, how plants take advantage of them as well as how they take advantage of plants for subsistence and reproduction, and how in many cases a symbiosis has been reached so that plant and animal work together for their mutual good. The stories of ants protecting trees and of wasps and bees and others pollinating plants are marvelous tales of intricate mutualisms honed by nature over the eons, tales so startling as to defy belief, except that we know they are true. An orchid shaped like female insect, giving off the female pheromone so as to entice the male insect to "mate" in order to spread the plant's pollen, is one example. The nutritious elaisomes that grow on the seeds of plants that attract and feed ants so that they might distribute the plant's seeds and even protect the plant from predators, is another. The ants that live on acacias that can actually smell large animals (including humans) and thereby congregate on the branches nearest the approaching animal ready to swarm and bite should the animal dare to touch the tree, is still another.
Along the way, Waldbauer shows us what bugs and their stories can teach us about the nature of life itself--what life is truly like beyond the artificial confines of human culture--and not so incidentally, about ourselves, if we care to recognize the many affinities between our lives, especially our economic lives, and that of bugs, most notably of course the social insects who herd animals, plant crops and harvest them, who fight battles and construct dwellings.
I could go on and on, but just let me say that this is the most informative book on bugs that I have ever read (and I've read dozens) and one of the most readable. Moreover it is beautifully designed (by Marianne Perlak) and beautifully edited (by Nancy Clemente). The black, white and gray illustrations of bugs and plants by Meredith Waterstraat are elegant and serve as a fine complement to the text. This book should win some awards. It is the kind of book you might want to buy for yourself and to give as a present to anyone interested in nature from gardeners to professors of biology. This is a gem that can be appreciated by and benefit both professionals and the general public.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
March 2, 2019
An excellent, wonderful book. It describes the benefits insects are to life on earth and the web of life. I am going to give this book to my granddaughter, who is in the third grade and has always been interested in insects. It is written so clearly that she can almost read and understand it now, and if can't, there are wonderful line drawings of insects and plants throughout the pages.
May 31, 2018
Tediously detailed. I tried to read it and take notes but still felt overwhelmed. The title of the book itself and the chapter titles all intrigued me but the descriptive details just couldn’t hold my attention.
January 24, 2008
A must read for anyone who is facinated by nature. The study of all the different "little creatures who rule the world (EO Wilson)" is incrediably fulfilling in understanding our purpose as humans. And this book has selected some of the more rare and awesome examples.
July 28, 2008
What to say? I usually don't read books about bugs. It was interesting, gross (in spots) and very detailed. If you're a lover of insects, check it out!
March 6, 2014
Honestly one of the best read I've had in a long while. I learnt something new and astonishing on every page.
August 15, 2016
Had trouble with all the information, very detailed and little too technical for me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews