2021-02-07

Many of us don’t like insects.  For whatever reason.  Maybe they bite or sting.  Maybe they destroy things.  They might creep us out.  Or quite literally, “bug us.”  Whatever the reason, humans by and large, see insects as pests to be gotten rid of.  Lots of effort has been put into concocting poisons to exterminate them.  The more we kill the better.

But as humans have yet to learn, getting rid of one part of an ecosystem will affect all other parts, one way or another.  So, since we share this planet with insects, if we kill them off, we will eventually pay for it.  Insects are in fact an essential part of most ecosystems on Earth.  They are food for many birds, amphibians, and mammals.  Without insects, the creatures that eat them would die off.  Insects are pollinators, without whom much of the plant kingdom would fail.  They are nature’s trash collectors and processors, too.  If they aren’t there to play their role in the decomposition of dead matter, for instance, we would notice it in the form of dead fauna and flora taking over the landscape.  Also, insects kill other insects that are actual pests for humans.  Without those “good guys” of the insect world, we would be overrun by the pesky and destructive ones.  Finally, insects play an important role in keeping the soil healthy.

For decades, we have been at war with the very creatures that are essential to the web of life on our planet.  Now, scientists are starting to understand how severely we have decimated insect populations and what the impacts of our destructive ways will be if we don’t immediately find ways to rescue rather than ruin these tiny creatures we ultimately depend upon.