The Insect Armageddon
While driving your car at high speeds in prime summer, have you ever wondered that something is amiss? You are not alone in noticing that the windshield doesn’t get plastered with insect carcasses so often and that one doesn’t need to clear out the smeared bugs to maintain a spotless driving experience. People throughout the globe are reminiscing in their childhood and wondering, what happened to all the bugs? Where did they go?
If your nostalgia is giving way to worry, you are in for a shock. A recent study demonstrated that the monarch butterfly population has lowered by 90% in the last 2 decades. Another study found that the flying insect populations have reduced by 75% in German nature reserves in the last 3 decades. Similar trends are being observed globally. An earlier 2014 study estimated a decline of 45% in insect abundance at globally monitored locations. The bugs are simply not here anymore.
One may ask, why we need to worry? After all, most bugs are nothing but a nuisance for us? Scientists point out that the global insect population decline could result in unpredictable catastrophes. Bugs are an integral part of several food chains and are the primary food sources for various reptiles, birds, small mammals, and other animals. Several food crops and plant species rely on insects for pollination, while several insect species help degrade organic matter to recycle soil nutrients. Hence, a dwindling insect population could result in global ecological collapse.
The bug armageddon’s exact reasons remain a mystery and a question that further research needs to answer. The severe loss of insect biomass in nature reserves is particularly worrying as the problem could be worse elsewhere. The proposed drivers include climate change, excessive pesticide usage, deforestation, single-crop farming, and environmental pollution.
As the bug catastrophe is a relatively unknown subject among the populous (possibly due to fewer studies or being eclipsed by other grander socio, economic, and political issues), it is time for the younger generation to be made aware of the dwindling insect biomass. More youngsters need to develop an interest in the scientific discipline of entomology (a branch of zoology) to further the research needed to solve this critical situation.
On the larger level, the world governments and private bodies should invest more into entomological research to help scientists conduct large-scale and in-depth studies to understand the exact reasons behind the insect catastrophe and what it means for our planet, and the actions needed to alleviate the issue. Although nature is resilient, humans may be knocking on hell’s doors. The time is ripe to brainstorm and push the envelope. Let’s create a planet full of life so that our younger generation has heaven to call home.
See the version published in ‘The Korea Times’ →
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2021/03/137_305641.html
