Education

The Roles Insects Play in Our Lives

By Debbie Hadley, About.com Guide

For good or for bad, insects are everywhere around us. As pets or pests, carriers of disease or providers of protein, insects will always play a role in our lives.

Catching and Keeping Insects
Garden and Landscape Pests
Beneficial Insects
Home and Yard Pests
Forensic Entomology

Catching and Keeping Insects

If you really want to learn about insects, observe them alive and up close. You'll need to know where to find them, and how to catch and keep your live specimens without harming them.

Garden and Landscape Pests

Five tufts of white bristles along each side of the abdomen characterize the Japanese beetle.

From the voracious hornworms to the invasive Japanese beetles, garden pests can be the bane of a gardener's growing season.

Beneficial Insects

Not all bugs are bad! Beneficial insects play important roles in the garden. Pollinators turn flowers into fruit, and predators and parasites prey on garden pests.

Home and Yard Pests

A bed bug nymph turns darker as it ingests a blood meal.

Not all bugs that come indoors are pests, but you might not care to share you home with them just the same. And certain insects, like mosquitoes and ticks, can make outdoor activities hard to enjoy.

Forensic Entomology

Forensic entomology is the study of insects as they pertain to legal matters, including crimes. Insect evidence can reveal details about a murder that may help put a killer behind bars.

Insects