I don’t like bugs. The creepy things, with many legs, make my skin crawl. But no matter how unpleasant they are, insects are absolutely crucial to the functioning of our world’s ecosystems, and unfortunately new research shows that creature populations are on the verge of collapse.
This is the theme of the latest issue of the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, called The Global Decline of Insects in the Anthropocene Special Feature, which includes 12 papers made by 56 authors detailing the rapid decline of insects.
One reason for this decline is habitat degradation. As one of studies shows, land use changes for agriculture are a major cause. “The industrialization of agriculture in the second half of the twentieth century involved large-scale agriculture, monoculture, the application of increasing amounts of pesticides and fertilizers and the removal of interspersed hedges and other fragments of wild habitats, all practices that are destructive to insects and other biodiversity in and near fields, ”says the study. The problem is widespread – at present, about 11% of the Earth’s surface is used for growing crops. and 30% more is used for grazing for animal farming.
The authors are particularly concerned about the impact of agriculture in tropical regions, where deforestation to clear agricultural land is common.
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“Given that the vast majority of the diversity of insect species is found in the tropics, deforestation is certainly among the biggest threats to insect biodiversity in the world,” the study says. Since scientists estimate that less than 15% of insects in the tropics have yet been discovered by humans, this means that many species will become extinct before they even know they exist. This could make it difficult to understand the effects that their loss will have on forest ecosystems in general.
The study’s authors also highlight the problem of degrading the world’s grasslands. Since so much prairie land is common cultivate crops and feed animals, native insects of these places—Including many kinds of butterflies, moths, ants, bees and wasps – are among the most at risk.
An even greater contributor to the dangerous decline of insects than the direct effect of land use change, another study in the package Events, is the climate crisis. “From invasive species to habitat loss, pesticides and pollution, anthropogenic stressors are numerous and multifaceted, but none are as ubiquitous geographically or are as likely to interact with all other factors as climate change.” , says the study.
The authors performed a meta-analysis of the literature from long-term monitoring of insect populations and found many cases of low numbers. For example, in the California mountains, the increase in average daily minimum temperatures has caused some butterfly populations to decline, especially in the drier years, because the warmer climate disturbedand mating programs and access to nectar-producing plants. The same was true for moth populations amid warming temperatures in Finland and the U.K, who they had challenges in maintaining optimal body temperature.
Elsewhere, however, the insects actually thrived in warmer weather. The authors found evidence of this at low altitudes parts of California and Central Europe. That’s because in some regions, warmer temperatures helped the larvae they grow faster and cause some bugs to mate more often. This may sound like a good thing, but too many insects is a problem as well, because huge populations can throw away ecosystems and societies. Look at the massive swarms of locusts that beat East Africa last year, devastating arable land in an area where many are already suffering from chronic hunger.
Clearly, there is a global need to ensure that the level of the insect population remains where it should be. In a perspective piece that contextualizes the other The findings of the articles, researchers present key ways in which world leaders could achieve this.
efforts it should include closer monitoring of the health and spread of popu insectsas well as stress factors from rising temperatures to pesticide use. In addition to setting up a new monitor, the authors request that more resources be put in the analysis of the data already existing there, many of which are barely analyzed or not seen at all. The new PNAS number, for example, includes the first analysis of insect data in the United States Long-term ecological research program Since was established in 1980.
Even if we do not increase monitoring and analysis, say the authors of the perspective, we know enough for world leaders to take something immediately steps. They can work to reduce the amount of land used for agriculture and the amount of pesticides allowed for use.and can adopt policies to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to stifle the climate crisis. And scientists can work harder to communicate the importance of insect populations to the public, so the public will demand more effort to protect insects. Already, says the prospect, many insect populations fall at annual rates of 1-2% per year, putting them on a sheetsion course with disappearance if we do not reverse course.