Are wasps the knees of bees? Scientists think that they should be

A new study reveals that the public hates wasps, while bees are very popular.

The researchers involved claim that this view is unfair because wasps are just as ecological as bees.

Scientists suggest a public relations campaign to restore the weakened image of wasps.

They would like to see the same efforts to conserve them as there are currently with bees.

The survey of 750 people from 46 countries was published in Ecological Entomology.

Despised by picnickers, fears for their painful stings, wasps are among the least loved insects according to the new study.

In the survey, participants were asked to rate insects on a scale of minus five, representing a strongly negative emotion to more than five, representing a strongly positive emotion.

The vast majority of responses for bees were over 3 or more, whereas it was the reverse for wasps, the vast majority of them rating their feelings at three or less.

When asked to think of words associated with bees, the most popular for bees were "honey", "flowers" and "pollination".

For wasps, the most common words that came to mind were "sting", "annoying" and "dangerous".

However, wasps also pollinate flowers while killing pests and are just as important to the environment as bees.

The problem, according to Dr. Seirian Sumner, of University College London, who led the research, is that the wasps got a bad press.

The public is not aware of all the good things they do, they are considered nuisances rather than an important ecological asset.

"People do not realize how precious they are," she told BBC News.

"Although you may think that they are after your beer or jam sandwich – they are actually much more interested in finding prey for insects to bring back into their nest to feed their lava. "

Dr. Sumner also discovered that there was a lack of research on the mostly positive impact of wasps on the environment.

She has analyzed scientific research articles and conference presentations on bees and wasps over the past 37 years and 16 years respectively.

Of the 908 items sampled, only 2.4% of wasp publications were found since 1980, compared to 97.6% (886 articles) of bee publications. Of the 2,543 conference abstracts on bees or wasps in the last 20 years, 81.3% were bees.

This lack of research is slowing efforts to develop conservation strategies for wasps, whose numbers are declining due to habitat loss and climate change, according to Dr. Alessandro Cini of the University of Florence, who collaborated in the study.

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