Reducing Agrochemicals to Save Insects From Climate Change – Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

If you’ve ever tried to grow a vegetable garden, you’ll know right away how much pain a repellent spray can do. But greenworms seem to prioritize insects over humans.

Climate change causes a global collapse in insect numbers: stressed arable land shows a 63% drop – new study

Published: April 21, 2022 1.12 a.m. AEST

Reading speed

• The world may be facing a devastating “potentially” demise to insect species due to the dual threats of climate change and habitat loss.
• UCL’s Center for Biodiversity & Environment Research conducted one of the largest-ever assessments of insect decline around the world – evaluating three-quarters of a million samples from about 6,000 sites.
• New research, published in Naturefound that climate-stressed arable land possessed, on average, only half the number of insects and 25% fewer species of insects than areas with natural habitats.
• Insect declines are greatest in areas of intense arable land in tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are most acutely experienced. .
• The vast majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million species are thought to live in these areas – meaning the richest abundance of insect life on the planet could be collapsing without us even knowing it. know well.
• Reducing farming intensity by using fewer chemicals, having a wider variety of crops, and preserving some natural habitats can mitigate the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change. effects on insects.
• Considering the choices we make as consumers – such as buying coffee or cocoa grown in the shade – can also help protect insects and other organisms in vulnerable areas. most climate vulnerable in the world.

Long reading

Insects are very important to the future of our planet. They help control pests and break down dead matter to release nutrients into the soil. Flying insects are also major pollinators of many major food crops, including fruit, spices and – importantly for chocolate lovers – cocoa.

Therefore, there are more and more reports showing that the number of insects is plummeting as a matter of urgency. Loss of insect biodiversity could put these vital ecological functions at risk, threatening human livelihoods and food security in the process. However, across large swaths of the world, there are gaps in our knowledge of the true scale and nature of insect decline.

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Insects are facing an unprecedented threat from the “twin riders” of climate change and habitat loss. We sought to understand how insect biodiversity is being affected in areas that experience both of these challenges most severely. We know they don’t operate in isolation: habitat loss can add to the effects of climate change by limiting available shade, for example, leading to even warmer temperatures in these vulnerable areas.

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Eighty-seven major crops in the world are believed to be wholly or partly dependent on pollinators, of which most tend to be grown in the tropics. For example, cocoa is mainly pollinated by midges, a group of flies known for their grueling camping trips in Scotland and other parts of the northern hemisphere. In fact, the midges play an important and underappreciated role in pollinating the cocoa needed to make chocolate.

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Read more: https://theconversation.com/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research-170738

There are many insects that I want to get rid of. Imagine the relief that humans and animals would enjoy, from bites and horrible diseases caused by mosquitoes, if all the mosquitoes in the world were eradicated.

Obviously if the world kills all the pollinators, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble, and I have a weakness for spiders, which kill other insects. Maybe we can save a few species of midges that do something useful, like the midges that pollinate cocoa bean flowers.

But there are plenty of agricultural pests that the world won’t miss – like carrot flies, a sophisticated pest that invades root vegetables and spoils them, unless you spray the deadly chemical at the right time. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong until you try to pick mature vegetables and discover they’re all rotting (see top of page).

However, if greens are grown, the whole harvest could face this kind of ruin, if farmers are too worried about insect legal protections to do what they know. is a must to protect our food supply.

Given the growing risk of a food crisis due to the Ukraine conflict, it would be difficult, in my opinion, to choose a worse time to incite a reduction in the use of agrochemicals.

Update (EW): Fixed some typos.