For all the barbaras and bobs out there, three nice starter publications on the topic what non-bee insects âdoâ (for you) :
John E. Losey, Mace Vaughan (2006): The Economic Value of Ecological Services Provided by Insects
Mike H. Allsopp, Willem J. de Lange, Ruan Veldtman (2008): Valuing Insect Pollination Services with Cost of Replacement
Craig R. Macadam, Jenni A. Stockan (2015): More than just fish food: ecosystem services provided by freshwater insects
Insects are not only the most beautiful, but also the most important animal group we have. There is a reason why we have over one million + different insect species!
And last but not least, for the hipster barbaras and hipster bobs who roll their eyes at the mainstreamy bees:
(old, but still valid points:)
Gallai et al. (2009): Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted to pollinator decline
Also friendly reminder that not everyone lives in Murica eating âcorn and beefâ ;-) . If there is one thing I learned from a Kenyan friend: especially in Africa many people eat âunknownâ (at least for Westeners) crops that are highly dependent on pollination. For us, lack of pollination means no yummy strawberrys or pumkin for dessert, but hey, we have lots of anemophilous cereals, so who cares about fruits (and vitaminsđ) . In other countrys and communities, lack of pollination can cause famine and malnutrition. Also, all the nice, exotic luxury shits like coffee, flowers, exotic fruits that are grown in Africa for western market (and mostly depending on pollination - yes, coffee needs bees&friends!) - if they have decline in their productivity, this can become very critical for the farmers & Co who rely on selling this stuff.
About the political implications that famine and unemployment can cause (emigration, social crisis, civil war, etc.) - letâs not dive into that.
And letâs not even start with how wild plants depend on pollination. Especially in times of climate change and other challenges, the diversity of the gene pool - which helps adapting - depends on many, diverse pollinators!
Many insects (and other animals) offer pollination services, but the 20.000 bee species worldwide have in general a very big weight - their life cycle is bound to flowers, due to that life cycle, bees are very vulnerable to anything that influences food and nesting ressourcesâŠthe role of pesticides is not yet included. Non-Apis bees donât pop out many babys. 30 babys are a lot for an average bee. Most insects laugh about that offspring rate. Every meter extra a bee has to fly for food reduces the amount of offspring she produces. Many plants profit from this insect group. Cold, bad weather, flowers far apart? Most beetles, butterflys and hoverflys will not move their ass under this condition, but fear no more, horny plant! A fuzzy bee is on her way!
So yeah - if (!) we reduce insects as living beings to an anthropocentric value in ecosystem services - there is A LOT more than pollination, but pollination (and bees) have an impact we should never underestimate.
Also, from personal experience, an addition- bees are great advocats for insect protection because âcute fuzzy super momsâ are naturally sympathetic to humans. Bees are a great âstarter drugâ which lures people into loving insects! đ They start liking bee, they end admiring cockroaches, aphids and tiny mudbrown moths.
