The world's leading insect experts slotxo say our planet's major insect populations are slowly dying down.
A new study group shows that the world loses 1 to 2 percent of insects each year. The losses are due to climate change, agricultural pollution, land use change and the use of chemicals.
David Wagner, from the University of Connecticut, is the head of 12 studies recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. 56 scientists from around the world participated in the research.
The problem that is sometimes referred to as the scourge of insects is a complex problem. Even the scientists themselves say that they are not fully understood. And the complexity of these problems makes it difficult to get people to focus on solutions.
Wagner said scientists need to find out if the degree of insect loss is greater than that of other animals. To worry more than Because insects are targets of pesticide attacks. Herbicide And light pollution
Pesticides and herbicides are special chemicals that can kill different types of insects or plants.
May Berenbaum, University of Illinois, head of the research, compared insect loss to climate change 30 years ago, at that time, a method used to measure temperature and the rate of effects of climate change. The climate is also difficult.
Another problem, Berenbaum said, is that many people hate insects, even though the tiny creatures are. These will do a lot of benefits. They pollinate the world's food, eliminate waste, and play an important role in the food chain.
There are two important insects, said Wagner of the University of Connecticut, bees. And the emperor butterfly This is a good example of the problems facing insects today. Many bees are missing due to disease, parasites, pesticides, herbicides and malnutrition, and the drought conditions of the western United States. Driven by climate change, milkweed is less the food of insects. And a change in American agriculture has removed the weeds and flowers that insects feed on nectar from pollen.
However, Berenbaum said the latest scientific papers do not provide any new information. But it shows an incomplete overall picture of the problem, which is beginning to receive more attention. Scientists have identified 1 million insect species and estimate that there are still 4 million more to be discovered.
Doug Tallamy from the University of Delaware was not part of the study. It said the research shows that the world has spent the last 30 years spending billions of dollars searching for new ways to kill insects, but little to save them. And fortunately, people work together to find a way to stop the loss of insects. This is a global problem solved at the grassroots level.
