Scientists are reporting that the world’s insects are dying out eight times faster than most other animals. They warn that the loss of these insects will cause big problems for all life on earth.
A group of scientists recently put out a ‘meta-study’ on the loss of insects around the world. A meta-study looks at the work of many other scientific studies. This report brings together information from 73 different sources.
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The results of the study are alarming. The scientists say that 40% of the world’s insects have had a sharp drop in their numbers in the last 10 years. One-third of the world’s insects are in danger of dying out completely. The news is not only bad for the insects, but for everything else that lives on the planet.
Insects play a very important part in life on earth. Insects help break things down to create healthy dirt. Many insects spread pollen between plants, helping these plants to create fruits, seeds, and more plants.
Perhaps most importantly, insects provide food to many different kinds of animals. Insects are low on the food chain. If insects disappear, animals like birds, bats, and frogs won’t have much to eat. If small animals starve, many larger animals will, too.
The scientists gave several reasons that insects are dying out, including modern farming, loss of wild land, and global warming.
To make things worse, the scientists point out that helpful bugs, like moths, butterflies, bees, and some beetles are more likely to die out. But the numbers of unhelpful insects like flies and cockroaches will keep going up.
What can be done? Controlling the use of insecticides is an important first step. Protecting, restoring, and creating more wild areas is also important. Reducing pollution to help limit global warming will help, too.