As a kid, Sam Kieschnick, an urban wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, was nicknamed "Sam the bug man." He was fascinated with the outside, taking note of all the beauty around him, both big and small.
One of the most amazing creatures to him? A dragonfly.
Not only are dragonflies a delicate, colorful flying creature, but they help Texans solve a pesky summer problem — mosquitos.
"Mosquitoes...they're one of these kind of bugs that tends to, well, for lack of a better word, they bug us," Kieschnick said. "They annoy us during summertime and dragonflies are the ultimate predators of mosquitoes."
Thankfully for other outdoor-lovers, Kieschnick says the battle between a dragonfly and a mosquito isn't much of a fight at all.
"This is a very one-sided competition," he said. "[Dragonflies] are the perfect aerial predator. They will fly around, they zip, they zag, they intercept."
Another way to get rid of mosquitos and other unwanted insects is using pesticides, but to Kieschnick, the risk of harming the predators the ecosystem needs to remain healthy doesn't outweigh less mosquitos.
"It's going to be very, very hard to get rid of them," Kieschnick said. "Instead, what I do is is I protect myself. I'll wear longer sleeves. I'll use bug spray on myself. But when I see other predators like dragonflies, birds, bats, like all those other great things in the ecosystem, I celebrate them, but I reduce my pesticide to also prevent hurting those predators."
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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