Unusual bugs, and not many mosquitoes, appearing in Edmonton this summer: expert

Kimberly Wynn: Have you noticed more bugs flying around out there? Perhaps ones you've never noticed before in other years. It could have something to do with the weather. Here to explain is Loki Snyman, the Curator of the Invertebrate Zoology at Royal Alberta Museum. Let's start off with the booming population of aphids. Why is this happening this year?

Loki Snyman : Aphids have a very short life cycle and basically can respond very quickly to favourable weather. So, lots of moisture, lots of heat will lead to very, very quick booming populations. They can reproduce asexually, meaning they can produce clones and produce lots of aphids very, very quickly.

Kimberly: I hate seeing them in the garden and ladybugs are a natural way to get rid of aphids. How can we introduce them into our gardens?

Loki: Ladybugs and things like green lacewings are natural predators, and not keeping a very clean garden is often a very good way of attracting bugs to your garden. So, leaving a few wood piles and then perhaps not cleaning off all the leaf litter can lead to an increase in biodiversity in a garden.

Kimberly: We have a lot of moisture to start off the season. Then recently, this long heatwave as well, then a mild winter. What bugs are we seeing more as a result of these in this environment?

Loki: Personally, I'm seeing quite a lot of lice bugs, which is strange looking bugs, very tiny bugs, almost looking like walking rectangles. They've got flat wings and they overwinter as adults and mild winters tend to lead to more adults around in spring. I'm seeing a lot of green lacewings, which might be a result of the aphids that's around and ladybugs you'll see a lot now as well.

Kimberly: Horse flies as well. Correct?

Loki: Yes, horse flies there is a lot of and I've been hearing a lot about people complaining about horse flies. They like sunny weather, very persistent to find a bite and painful biters. So, when you're out and about outside the city, you'll probably encounter some. They do draw blood. So, they've got scissors that are like mouthparts and they can pierce your skin quite badly.

Kimberly: With all the wildfires happening, pine beetles have been a huge topic of conversation. Can you explain how they've kind of contributed to fueling the fires?

Loki: Firstly, forest fires that spread as quickly as what we've seen recently is mostly weather associated. So, that's going to be very hot, dry weather, high winds. Pine beetles can contribute to the death of large trees and large patches of forest and perhaps contribute to the available of fuel for fires. Dead trees, of course, burn.

Kimberly: What is going on with the mosquito population? I feel like I'm not getting bitten a lot, but why aren't we seeing too many of them around?

Loki: That's a good question. I was working with mosquitoes mostly and I'm sort of perplexed as to why we're not seeing more. We had a very mild winter and we've had quite a lot of precipitation, and I expected more. As a citizen, I'm not seeing that, but I'll have to retrospectively look at data to see whether it's just perception or whether that's really a drop in population levels.

Kimberly: I'm seeing a lot of wasps as well. How can we get rid of paper wasps and what are they actually?

Loki: Paper wasps are social groups, so basically, they've got a queen and workers. All the workers are sisters and they overwinter as adult queens. If you have mild winters, you'll have fewer deaths over winter and you'll probably have more wasps to start off in spring. What's very beneficial, they rip pests out of your garden, so basically catch caterpillars to feed their young. Getting rid of wasps, they're not really a bother, try and leave them alone. Otherwise, preferably call an expert to remove them.