LAUSR

Wouldn’t it be great if there were user friendly guides to most (if not all) of what’s known about particularly noxious invasive species? Phil Lester has written one for invasive wasps that I’d recommend: The Vulgar Wasp. It’s a quick read, tells you what you need to know about the wasps, and has amazing photos and graphics. Vulgar Wasp ends with the provocative sentence ‘‘What would you do about wasps?’’ Now that I’ve read the book, in one sitting mind you, I think I know what I’d do about wasps. But let me back up and start from the beginning. Lester’s Vulgar Wasp is about more than just Vespula vulgaris, the social wasp that is recognized as one of the world’s 100 most noxious invaders. It’s a book that weaves tales of the natural history of wasps together with a cogent and fair discussion of a suite of controversial issues at the core of the field of invasion biology. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in social insects and/ or invasion biology. Lester has made an internationally recognized career out of studying many aspects of the ecology, behavior, and impact of wasps (and ants, among other things), mostly in New Zealand. His breadth of knowledge comes through in the book; there’s much more here than just the details of the biology and impact of a wasp species or two. The book is engagingly written and personal; Lester does not shy away from giving his opinion, and he recounts several conversations with prominent players in invasion biology. And I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across several sentences in the book that made me laugh out loud. The book is organized in a logical fashion. Chapter 1 introduces us to the life history of social wasps, from overwintering newly mated queens to nest construction and the production of new queens and reproductive males the next fall. It also summarizes all of the challenges colonies face in between, ranging from honey buzzards and pathogens to Japanese cooks. Chapter 2 focuses mostly on the impact of invasive wasps on natural systems and includes some fun backof-the-envelope calculations. For example, if you were a spider or caterpillar, you wouldn’t want to try to make a living in a forest with high densities of Vespula wasps; odds are you wouldn’t be able to live in a forest with high densities of Vespula wasps for more than just a few days. By some estimates, wasps consume upwards of 8 kg of arthropods per hectare per year, and the odds of a spider hatchling making it from spring to fall are on the order of 0.00000000000000005% (Beggs and Rees 1999)! Lester also provides data and anecdotes on the impact N. J. Sanders (&) Environmental Program, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA e-mail: [email protected]