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RE: A world with no males - reality is stranger than fiction.

in #nature6 years ago

in the natural setting, oak gall wasps do not do any appreciable damage to the oak trees. The most damage that is caused is actually by squirrels who strip the bark from branches to eat the larvae before the galls form. This can sometimes girdle a branch (remove the bark all the way around it in a strip) which can damage or even kill a branch - but even in this case, it is minor damage to the tree overall (losing a small twig). Oak gall wasps are considered to be serious pests in the nursery setting where people are growing oak trees for commercial sale, as the cosmetic damage there can make a tree unsaleable.

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I wonder if the chestnut gall wasp is different because it is imported? I know that this particular gall wasp does not affect American chestnut trees, only the ones native to our areas in Europe.