Learn how certain flies, wasps, spiders, and other beneficial garden insects can keep garden pest populations in check and strengthen your backyard ecosystem. Our gardens are home to many natural ...

Over the past 20 years a steady trickle of scientific papers has reported that there are fewer insects than there used to be. Both the combined weight (what scientists call biomass) and diversity of ...

Five decades ago, some well-known ecologists looked around and noted that their terrestrial world was very green. Why didn’t herbivores demolish the greenery? The observers suggested that predators ...

Camouflage and mimicry are two fascinating adaptions insects have developed for survival. These strategies not only help insects avoid predators but also enhance their chances of success in a world ...

In Batesian mimicry, a harmless species imitates a more dangerous one in an evolutionary “ruse” that affords the mimic protection from would-be predators. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology ...

AMES, Iowa – A farmer notices an unfamiliar insect on a leaf. Is this a pollinator? Or a pest? Good news at harvest time? Or bad? Need to be controlled? Or not? That farmer can snap a picture, use a ...

Spotted lanternflies naturally leap away from predators when threatened. Holding a water bottle near one will usually prompt the bug to flee, so it launches itself directly into the trap. Integrative ...

Deception is everywhere in nature. Animals and plants routinely cheat, lie and manipulate for their own benefit. One example ...