Why Are There So Many Wasps This Year?
WouterDespite the heatwave, wasp populations are up, and experts are calling it the ‘Year of the Wasp’. This year’s heat wave, along with low rainfall, has created the perfect climate for wasps to reproduce.
Wasps are a social insect, which means that they form colonies that have hundreds to thousands of members. A social wasp colony is started by a queen that has survived the winter, and then female worker wasps raise a brood of worker females.
During the spring, the queen wasp starts laying eggs. The eggs hatch in the summer, and the queen wasps continue to lay eggs throughout the summer. This process of laying eggs and fertilizing them leads to the growth of the colony in the fall.
During the summer, the wasp worker’s main role is to feed the larvae, which are the future adults. The larvae feed on flies and other insects, and produce a sweet substance that is consumed by the adults.
As the summer progresses, the number of adults in the colony increases rapidly. As the season winds down, the number of wasp workers decreases, and they seek food away from the colony. This is because they are no longer able to get sugar secretions from their siblings.
The queen wasps continue to lay eggs until fall. When the weather turns cold, they find a place to hibernate. If the weather does not drop too low, the queen has a better chance of making it through the winter.
