Wasps and bees, beetles and ants: Insect cafés in Bengaluru hope to attract them all

PTI

Bengaluru, April 23

Almost 99 per cent of the educated people know nothing of the complex and interdependent world of insects. In their ignorance, they only regard them as pests, said entomologist G K Ramegowda.

“But they are really, really important for the natural balance of our world. Yes, even the pesky house fly that we can’t wait to swat to death. They are really good decomposers and ideally should be farmers’ best friends,” said Ramegowda, who is teaching agricultural entomology at College of Horticulture in Yalachalli Horticulture Farm in Mysuru. This is a constituent college under University of Horticultural Sciences, headquartered in Bagalkot and spread over 22 districts.

About six months ago, to bring attention to the insect world, David Kumar Anthonappa, director of Bengaluru-based Vibhinna India Foundation, wanted to construct 1,000 of what he calls insect café, but also known as insect hotels or motels, globally.

These are structures made of wood and mud mostly, but will vary according to the area chosen to build them. Ideally, it is put up near water bodies or undisturbed areas in parks and gardens.

“I managed to put up some at Lalbagh Botanical Garden, with the help of the officials there as well as another at an NGO in Bhumi. We had put up some at Doddasaagare Botanical Garden in Tumakuru as well. But we needed help if we were to scale it to 1,000. It costs about Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 to build one. So, I reached out to corporate sponsors,” said Anthonappa.

To honour this Earth Day, EY Global Delivery Services (GDS) has committed itself to build and maintain about 25 of these insect cafes under its corporate social responsibility programme.

“We wanted to bring attention to something that has not been talked about as much as it should be. When David proposed this direct intervention to address the decreasing diversity of the insect world, we decided to go for it,” said Rumi Mallick Mitra, director of corporate responsibility at EY GDS.

The EY GDS team will be maintaining seven insect cafés in Doddasaagare Botanical Garden, eight at Lal Bagh and another eight at Cubbon Park, which will be highlighted in an event on June 5, said Mitra.

Building nesting frames for insects is not exactly new in Bengaluru. Before Anthonappa’s cafes, the forest department had put up a small one at Bannerghatta Biological Park, calling it an insect hotel, in 2021 – possibly the first in Bengaluru. They can also be found at Turahalli Tree Park and Kadugodi Tree park, again put up by forest department officials, according to news reports.

These cafes or hotels are but a tiny step towards insect conservation, augmentation and enrichment, said Ramegowda.

“If you look at the total species in the world, almost 40 per cent to 50 per cent will comprise insect species. But intensive cultivation of lands has wiped so many of them out and it is crucial that we get them back as each one has a role to play in the bigger scheme of things,” said Ramegowda.

Man’s interference totally skewed the balance maintained by nature, said Ramegowda. “Pests’ life cycle used to be just a season. But then people wanted to eat things fresh even in non-seasons and started manipulating the natural cycle. So along with year-long mangoes, we also have to deal with pests year round,” he added.

Although the idea is to attract predator insects to insect cafés, which will feed on pests and keep things balanced, one never knows what these cafés will attract, pointed out Ramegowda.

“The café at Lalbagh, for instance, has attracted a lot of pests. This was to be expected as well. I think the real deal is only after the rains. Perhaps, predatory insects will increase then. I am hoping that these will attract stingless bees. Even beetles, especially with beetles around, which have a chemical signal that attracts some specific species of insects, we can expect an increase in biodiversity as well as its density,” added Ramegowda.

The other important role for these insect cafés is the awareness it could potentially create among people, said the experts.

Mitra said that is part of the reason why they involved themselves. “We are so afraid of insects. We need to know they are not the bad guys, that they are pollinators and their existence, or the lack of it, will impact the food chain,” said Mitra.

Anthonappa said insect cafes will serve as points of attraction in urban gardens, engaging the common public, especially children, letting them learn first-hand about the role and need of insects in the ecosystem.

However, this is still a long way away. At the Lalbagh, it took this writer nearly 30 minutes to locate an insect café, despite being told about the general whereabouts of it. Forget the public, even gardeners and guards working there had no clue.

Perhaps, this is for the best. Ramegowda said, left undisturbed and lured by jaggery and cow dung, enriched by rain, it won’t be long before the top of the insect species – the beetles and bees, the so-called predators, will creep into the crevices in the wood, restoring natural balance in that particular ecosystem.

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