The world’s vital insect kingdom is undergoing “death by a thousand cuts,” say the world’s top insect experts. Climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species and changes in agriculture and land use cause the Earth to likely lose 1% to 2% of its insects every year, said University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner, lead author of the special package. of 12 studies in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, written by 56 scientists from around the world.
The problem, also called the insect apocalypse, is like a jigsaw puzzle. And scientists say they still don’t have all the pieces, so they have a hard time understanding the enormity and complexity of it and getting the world to notice and do something.
Wagner said scientists need to find out if the rate of insect loss is greater than other species. “There is a reason to be more concerned,” he added, “because they are the target of attacks” with insecticides, herbicides and light pollution.
University of Illinois co-author and entomologist May Berenbaum, a National Medal of Science winner, said, “The decline of insects is comparable to climate change 30 years ago, because the methods of measuring the magnitude and extent of (loss ) were difficult to assess. “
Making matters worse is that in many cases people dislike insects, even though they pollinate the world’s food, are crucial to the food chain and dispose of waste, she said.
Insects “are absolutely the fabric with which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built,” Wagner said.
Two known – honey bees and Monarch butterflies – best illustrates bug problems and declines, he said. Honeybees have declined dramatically due to disease, parasites, insecticides, herbicides and lack of food.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Climate change-driven drier weather in the western US means less milkweed for butterflies to eat, Wagner said. And changes in American agriculture are removing weeds and flowers they need for nectar.
“We are creating a huge biological desert excluding soybeans and corn in a huge area in the Midwest,” he said.
Last month, Trump government officials announced Tuesday that the monarch butterfly was a “candidate” for federal designation as an endangered species – but will not get the designation for several years, because there are other priorities.
Honeybee numbers have fallen from the “dangerously low” levels of less than 30,000 monarchs in the past two years, the zoo said. “The incredible migration of Western monarchs is a unique but fragile piece of natural history in North America, and is on the verge of collapse,” said Paige Howorth, director of invertebrate care and conservation at San Diego Zoo Global.
Monday’s scientific articles provide no new data, but provide a large but incomplete picture of a problem that is beginning to receive attention. Scientists have identified 1 million insect species, while there are likely 4 million more to be discovered, Berenbaum said.
Entomologist Doug Tallamy of the University of Delaware, who was not part of the studies, said they highlight how the world “spent billions of dollars over the past 30 years to find new ways to kill insects and only pennies to conserve them” .
“The good news is that, with the exception of climate change, individuals can do a lot to reverse the decline of insects,” Tallamy said in an email. “This is a global problem with a grassroots solution.”
Sophie Lewis contributed to this report.