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The world depends on healthy insect populations. As climate change and other threats cause their declines, simple actions can give them a much-needed boost.
This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now. It was originally published in The Revelator.
Scientists say we’re facing an “insect apocalypse” as a growing body of research shows drastic declines in their numbers around the world.
One of the first warning signs came from a study published in 2017 that found total insect biomass declined more than 75% in German agricultural landscapes in less than 30 years. Subsequent studies found about 20% of firefly species at risk, a 72% drop in insect numbers in a Colorado meadow over 20 years, and declines in an average 37% of insect species worldwide.
For those who consider most bugs pests, that may sound like good news. But it could have devastating effects on the natural world.
Why Insects Matter
Insects make up the base of the food chain, pollinate wildflowers and crops, and provide a variety of other ecological services such as nutrient cycling. As Keith Sockman, associate professor of biology at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill who conducted the Colorado study, sums it up, “Insects are necessary for terrestrial and fresh-water ecosystems to function.”
Bugs also heavily influence ecosystem services, contributions of the natural world to the well-being of humans. These myriad services include food, flood control, and recreation, and have an estimated value of $33 trillion per year.
“Insects are helping everything else work as part of intricate, coevolved systems. You can’t just pull individual organisms from ecosystems and expect everything to keep going,” says Alex Wild, curator of entomology at the University of Texas Biodiversity Collections.
“Insects exist at many levels within the food chain,” says Sockman. They are food for birds, lizards, frogs, fish, small mammals, and even humans, with people around the world eating some 2,000 species of insects.
Some insects produce compounds with medicinal properties. The light-producing enzyme from fireflies, luciferase, supports pharmaceutical and biomedical research.
How to Help
Threats to insects include habitat loss, agricultural practices (including pesticide use), invasive species, and changing weather patterns due to climate change. Sockman found that summer temperatures increased over his 20 years of sampling, and elevated temperatures one year were associated with reduced insect abundance the following year.
“It’s notable that the declines seem to be occurring even where the habitat is natural and relatively unscathed,” he says. “It’s not from a lack of plants or an abundance of pesticides. This is a pristine, remote site up in the mountains. It doesn’t leave a lot of explanations for the decline other than something tied to the climate.”
Individuals alone can’t solve climate change (although we can help), but there are other ways to support our six-legged friends.
An easy step is turning off outdoor lights. Light pollution is one of the most serious threats to fireflies, as it interferes with how males use light signals to communicate with females. Lights also attract insects, making them easy picking for predators.
You can also make your outdoor spaces insect friendly by providing food, water, and shelter.
“The more native plants you have, the more chance that you’re providing habitat for native insects,” says Andrea Delong-Amaya, horticulture educator at the University of Texas Wildflower Center. “Diverse plantings are always good, but if you are trying to attract specific insects, different species want different things.” For example, Gulf fritillary butterflies need passion vines and monarchs need milkweed.
You also want a mosaic of different types of habitat, Delong-Amaya says, including leaves or mulch and bare soil for ground-nesting bees.
“That is counter to what we normally say, which is to mulch bare soil, but you just need a few patches,” she says. “Maybe in a corner of your yard where you won’t disturb them and vice versa.” Make sure these areas are well-drained.
Leave some dead vegetation standing, too, as insects burrow into them to overwinter.
“Basically, don’t clean things up too much,” Delong-Amaya adds. “You don’t have to go crazy wild. Find what works for you. Even having a little debris pile somewhere is beneficial.” Placing borders on unmanicured areas shows that your benign neglect is intentional, in case you’re worried about what the neighbors think.
“I feel like one of the best things is to not kill insects,” she says. “Don’t use bug zappers, as they kill everything and there are other ways to manage biting insects like mosquitoes.”
Avoid using pesticides, even organic ones, which still are toxic. Host plants are adapted to caterpillars chomping on them and will re-sprout if they are healthy. Insects generally are attracted to specific host plants and not, say, your tomatoes. And you can hand-thin insects in your garden or at least use pesticides only there.
Except for a few bugs like mosquitoes that actively seek us out, insects are not trying to hurt us, Wild says. “They’re just trying to make a living in this difficult world.”
Let’s help make that world a little less difficult.
This article was originally commissioned by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
What You Can Do
- Turn off outdoor lights.
- Plant native and diverse species, including specific host plants for insects in your area.
- Create a mosaic of different habitats, including patches of bare, well-drained soil for ground-nesting bees.
- Avoid using pesticides, including organic pesticides. Instead, hand-thin insects in your garden if needed.
- Limit cleanup and leave natural habitats and some dead vegetation standing for insects to burrow into and overwinter. (Fence unmanicured areas to show the wild look is intentional!)
– Bluedot Living
