Insect Decline: A Looming Ecological Crisis
Photo from Pixabay
The rapid and widespread decline of insect populations worldwide could lead to a major ecological crisis and threaten global food security, according to a report published by the scientific website Live Science. Despite the common notion that insects are pests, their gradual disappearance poses a direct threat to ecosystems and the food supply chain.
The compiled data shows an alarming collapse: pollinator insects, flying species, and many groups essential to maintaining biodiversity are experiencing an unprecedented decline. This trend, already described by several researchers as an "insect apocalypse," is durably disrupting environmental balances.
"When I was a child, we would return from summer trips with the windshield covered in insects. Today, it remains clean," testifies Cheryl Schultz, an ecologist at Washington State University. This phenomenon, nicknamed the "windshield test," illustrates the massive decline of flying insects.
Accumulated studies confirm the extent of the decline: a 25% decrease in global bee biodiversity since 1995, a 22% decrease in the number of butterflies in the United States over twenty years, and a 76% loss of flying insects in certain German forests over 27 years.
"This is extremely concerning," emphasizes Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, an NGO dedicated to protecting invertebrates.
Experts identify three major factors:
- Climate Change: causing phenological shifts, heatwaves, extreme droughts, and reduced snow cover, making insect biological cycles incompatible with their food sources.
- Urbanization, Deforestation, and Habitat Artificialization: depriving insects (especially ground-nesting bees) of nesting, reproduction, and hibernation sites.
- Massive Pesticide Use: still common in the United States and several industrialized countries, and particularly destructive to wild pollinators.
The report concludes that, without rapid and coordinated action, the collapse of insect populations could lead to profound disruptions in agricultural production, biodiversity, and ecosystem stability in the decades to come.
