Insectageddon
Insects are the most abundant animals in the world, making up around 70% of all animal species, playing a vital role in the ecosystem of our planet.
The first ever global scientific review on insect’s has revealed that over 40% of species are declining and a third now classed as endangered. This 40% could become extinct within the next few decades, with scientists warning that insects could be totally wiped out within the next century.
We are now witnessing the sixth mass extinction in the Earths history, with demises in biodiversity and ecosystems being reported on numerous fronts. Insect numbers are currently falling 8 times faster than that mammals, birds and reptiles.
If this trend carries on, it could result in a total collapse of nature on earth and even the downfall of the human race.
So why are insects important?
What is happening to them?
And how can we stop this happening?
So why are insects important?
Yes, if insects vanished it would mean no more fleas or mosquito bites. Even insect spread diseases like zika, dengue and malaria would be gone.
But Insects are the most plentiful animals in the world, with their total weight 17 times that of humans and a key functioning part to the majority of food webs. 60% of birds rely solely on insects for food. Deprived of insects these birds would die out, and any animals that feed on these birds would be starved of a vital food source too, in turn endangering them.
80% of the worlds wild plants use insects for pollination. This is not just bees, but also ants, butterflies, moths, beetles and mosquitos. Without them these plants and the vast amount of food produced from them that we eat, would be gone.
Some Insects are used to control other insects classed as pests. They also keep soil healthy, recycling nutrients back into the earth at a rate unparalleled by nature alone. Decay and rot would be rife without them.
What is happening to the insects?
The report shows up to 80% of insect biomass has disappeared in the last 30 years, with butterflies, bees and beetles most affected. There as been a 58% drop of butterfly species in English farmlands between 2000-2009. A 98% drop of ground insects in Puerto Rico over the last 35 years, and nearly half of the 6million honeybee colonies in the US disappearing since 1947.
The main cause is being put down to habitat loss, with agricultural land usage intensifying year on year. Trees and shrubs that filled fields are now bare, having just the designated crop present when in season. This makes it impossible for some insects to live and feed in these fields.
Agricultural Land is more and more treated with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides which kill off insects. Pesticides carry through the air as pollution as well and kill further afield than intended.
Climate change is also playing a part, with insects in tropical regions suffering from having a low tolerance to heat changes. Insects are also missing important feeding cycles with certain pollinating plants. When insects would normally spawn, feed and reproduce at a certain time of year to coincide with a plants blooming, now they are out of sync with these flowers blooming earlier due to global heating. The plants do not get pollinated and the insects are starved of their intended food source.
The total mass of insects is falling by 2.5% a year, meaning they could truly be extinct within the next century.
How can we stop this happening?
Suggested methods are a major reduction in pesticide usage, with organic farms shown to be home to much more insect life.
Over consumption and the need for industrial scale agriculture is a huge problem. Habitat restoration areas could be enforced as well as ideas like flower rich strips in farming fields.
What more can be done? please comment below with your thoughts on this.
Unless we address the way we are producing food, we run the risk of losing the vast majority of it, putting insects down the path of extinction and whole ecosystems in danger, ecosystems that we are a working yet damaging part.
