The vital kingdom of insects in the world suffers “death by a thousand cuts”, said the world’s largest bug experts. Climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species, and changes in agriculture and land use are causing the Earth to probably lose 1 to 2 percent of its insects each year, said University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner, lead author of the package. especially from 12 studies in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences written by 56 scientists from around the world.
The problem, sometimes called the apocalypse of insects, is like a puzzle. And scientists say they don’t have all the pieces yet, so they have trouble understanding its enormity and complexity and making people notice and do something.
Wagner said scientists need to figure out if the rate of insect loss is higher than for other species. “There are some reasons to worry more,” he added, “because they are the target of the attack” with insecticides, herbicides and light pollution.
University of Illinois co-author and entomologist May Berenbaum, winner of the National Medal of Science, said: “The decline of insects is comparable to climate change 30 years ago because methods of assessing the degree, rate (loss) were difficult. . “
The downside is that in many cases, people hate insects, even if they pollinate the world’s food, are crucial to the food chain and get rid of waste, she said.
Insects “are absolutely the fabric through which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built,” Wagner said.
Two acquaintances – BEES and Monarch butterflies “It best illustrates the problems and decline of insects,” he said. Bees have declined dramatically due to disease, parasites, insecticides, herbicides and lack of food.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
The dry weather caused by climate change in the western United States means less milk for butterflies to eat, Wagner said. And changes in American agriculture are eliminating the weeds and flowers they need for nectar.
“We are creating a huge biological desert, with the exception of soybeans and corn, in a giant area in the Midwest,” he said.
Last month, Trump administration officials have announced On Tuesday, the Monarch butterfly was a “candidate” for federal designation as an endangered species – but will not receive the designation for several years because there are other priorities.
The number of bees has dropped from the “dangerously low” levels of less than 30,000 monarchs in the past two years, the zoo said. “The incredible migration of Western monarchs is a unique but fragile piece of North American natural history and is about to collapse,” said Paige Howorth, director of invertebrate care and conservation at San Diego Zoo Global.
Monday’s scientific papers do not provide new data, but show a large but incomplete picture of a problem that is beginning to attract attention. Scientists have identified 1 million species of insects, while probably another 4 million are still to be discovered, Berenbaum said.
Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware who was not part of the study, said he highlights how the world “has spent the last 30 years spending billions of dollars finding new ways to kill insects and just working to make money.” keep”.
“The good news is that with the exception of climate change, individuals can do much to reverse the decline of insects,” Tallamy said in an email. “This is a global problem with a basic solution.”
Sophie Lewis contributed to this report.