Whether we acknowledge it or not, we rely on insects to pollinate plants, contribute to the ecosystem and prey on other insects that are harmful to humans. Which is why it is difficult to imagine a world without them.
Reports about an insect apocalypse that has spread these past few months sparked alarm and an indiscriminate extinction of insects worried a lot of people, especially the science experts and environmentalists.
There are more than a million insects that have been discovered and named, but there are many more that are yet to be described. It is undeniable that our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable to some insects, but different conditions favor different species of insects.
There is no perfect environment of all types of insects. And humans have an impact on the environment such as climate change and land development, and they hurt insects that are beneficial and help ones that are deemed harmful.
Around the world, entomologists are looking into empty nets and those who owns a car are unsettled by their pristine windshields. This just goes to show that our teeming world teems less in our lifetime. The first study to report about the insect apocalypse was published in 2017 by German entomologists who reported that in 27 years, the biomass of flying insects in their traps had decreased by 75%.
Another study from the Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research program site in the rainforest in Puerto Rico re-created an insect survey from the 1970s. It showed that the biomass of arthropods, which is a large group of organisms that include insects, reduced to 60-fold in that decade, and that frogs, birds, and lizards that ate arthropods had also decreased.
In April 2019, there were two scholars who published a review that showed over 70 reports of insect decline from all over the globe and predicted insect extinctions within our lifetime. They wrote the review in an alarming tone and they have been criticized for exaggerating the conclusion.
But the fact remains the same that entomologists are concerned about the fate of insects in our changing planet. Some scientists believe that the best approach is to push back on fire and brimstone rhetoric until there are studies complete that are more detailed and large-scale. Until then, it makes it difficult to rule out the decline in insects that are happening.
Insects are useful in pollination and predation, but that is just the start. They could also be a source for new drugs, dyes, inspire artists and provide moments of inimitable beauty.
