If someone told you insects were on the path to extinction, would you believe them? Well, turns out you better.
Granted, most of us would throw a ticker tape parade if someone informed us today that “All the mosquitoes are dead!”
Because, come on. Do bugs have any redeeming value?
Actually, yes. Well, maybe mosquitoes are a bad example, seeing as eminent scientists aren’t sure their disappearance would make a major difference to world ecology. (We freaking knew it.)
But insects in general are a critical faction of the animal kingdom. They feed birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals. They pollinate the crops on which we rely and the native species that steward our ecosphere. And they keep the ecology our cities healthier.
Which is why, when we hear phrases such as “insect apocalypse,” we tend to get a little jumpy.
Too bad the experts aren’t kidding. But it’s far from a simple story, so let’s read it.
What Is the Insect Apocalypse?
The “insect apocalypse” is pretty much what it sounds like: A catastrophic event in which most or all insects would die off and ultimately go extinct.
According to a recent German study, “Insects, which comprise two thirds of all terrestrial species, have been dying off at alarming rates, with disastrous impacts on food chains and habitats.” Even more frighteningly, they have found “evidence of what is described as one of Earth's worst extinction phases since the dinosaurs vanished.”
Some even claim the insects will all be gone by the end of the century.
Ruh roh.
Before you crawl into your emergency bunker and rip open the MREs, take a deep breath: Most scientists contest this dire view of the insect apocalypse. As with the current “climate apocalypse,” the warn that this is a drastically overblown statement.
“The claim that insects will all be annihilated within the century is absurd. Almost everyone I spoke with says that it’s not even plausible, let alone probable,” explains Ed Yong for The Atlantic. “Indeed, insects of some sort are likely to be the last ones standing. Any event sufficiently catastrophic to scour the world of insects would also render it inhospitable to other animal life.”
In other words, by the time they’re gone, we humans will long since have shuffled off this mortal coil. Yay?
Still, the insect “apocalypse” is a really big deal … at least, if you’re the kind of person who likes to eat. Food. At all.
How a Pollinator Collapse Could Devastate Society
It’s important to note that it wouldn’t take all the insects dying for our world to feel the pinch.
We’ve already seen that with the much-publicized Colony Collapse Disorder, in which pests or pesticides or other environmental factors (we’re not exactly sure which) cause massive honeybee hive die-offs. And although research shows that native pollinators are actually more effective, that doesn’t mean scientists aren’t alarmed.
Pollination power might seem a bit abstract to your average bear, whose closest encounter with wheat is usually when ordering the bran muffin at Starbucks. But it matters.
REALLY matters, actually. And it’s getting worse.
Research shows that “most farms around the world suffer from a ‘pollination deficit’ – the gap between how much food they could produce, with perfect pollination, and how much they actually produce.” Again, this is for any number of reasons: habitat loss, climate change, invasive species, pathogens and more.
“Ironically, honeybees are also part of the problem,” says the above source. “Diseases spread quickly between honeybee operations, which are basically the urban slums of the bee world, and are then transported around the country by migratory beekeepers.”
The pollination issue goes way beyond honeybees, though. The insect apocalypse also affects pollinators such as native bees, butterflies, beetles, moths, dragonflies, ants, wasps and more. It also affects non-pollinating insects … and severely.
According to the above-referenced German study, “measured simply by weight, the overall abundance of flying insects in German nature reserves had decreased by 75 percent over just 27 years. If you looked at midsummer population peaks, the drop was 82 percent.”
While those might not be gone-by-the-end-of-the-century numbers, they’re certainly lie-awake-at-night-and-ponder-our-doom numbers.
So what can we do?
What Can We Do About the Insect Apocalypse?
Unfortunately, there is no magic wand when it comes to the insect apocalypse.
Fortunately, the problem does have solutions. These include:
- Plant more native flowering plants on farms, to give bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects extra habitat. This will encourage them to settle nearby, not only providing pollination services, but also keeping pest population at bay through natural means.
- Stop using pesticides at home and in agricultural practices wherever possible. See above bullet for one easy approach.
- Plant native plants in your garden, create green roofs that are hospitable to insects, and stop using insecticides to get rid of them on your property.
Another important method of averting the insect apocalypse is to control overpopulation, curbing the explosion of humans that do so much harm to the planet. We can do this by continuing to educate people in developing countries, especially women. The more educated women are, the more likely they are to take charge of their reproductive rights, and therefore the less likely they are to reproduce unless and until they want to.
That, unfortunately, is not a service we provide here at Ecogardens.
What we can help with are those green spaces that provide such support to insects both native and transitory. If you’d like to speak with us about planting an urban garden, installing a green roof or otherwise making your space more bug-friendly, we would love to help!
All you have to do is get in touch with us today.
