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Quick Fact: Insects are the building blocks of the environment. The detrimental impact on insects can cause a domino effect in the food web.
Human activities are affecting the insect population widely. Man-made pollution, also known as anthropogenic pollution, has disturbed the physiology and psychology of insects. The severe alterations in the environment have caused a rapid decline in the insect population. Many entomologists have also coined this term as ‘insect apocalypse'. Let's look at the top 3 reasons that affect the insect population.
Poor Air Quality can affect insects around you
The floral fragrance is one of the important aspects of the bug-plant relationship. The powerful air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and ozone that are released from diesel combustion get chemically combined with these floral scents. Such alteration in the smell causes difficulty for foraging insects and pollinators such as bees to find flowers, confusing them to find the path towards the plants. The researchers have also claimed that insect pollination is reduced by 31%.1
Low soil quality can reduce the lifespan of insects
Polluted soil can prove fatal to the insects residing in the soil. The soil-dwelling insects such as dung beetles have a unique connection with the soil, their larvae and adults feed on the dung in the soil. Their poop improves the soil conditions. However, synthetic pesticides are the biggest danger to their lives. Scientists have observed that prolonged use of synthetic pesticides decreases the dung beetles’ chances of going into adulthood. Soil contaminated with metals such as inorganic selenium can cause improper growth and a high mortality rate for honeybees. 2
Glitz can disturb tiny creatures
While artificial lights are very important for man at night, the same is not with the insects. The presence of artificial lights confuses the day and night pattern of the insects, causing them to be awake at night too. Such disturbed patterns of sleep mess up their reproductive systems. It has also been discovered that light pollution has impacted the physical and mental development of juvenile crickets like field crickets. Recent studies have estimated that around one-third of bugs attracted to outdoor and indoor lights face fatal consequences before morning due to exhaustion. 3
Here's how you can help our tiny friends survive in this world:
Try to reduce your carbon footprint. You can choose to walk to shorter destinations, rather than using your private vehicle. Encourage yourself to use public transport such as metros and buses.
If you have a lovely balcony or backyard, bring those flowering plants and you can help butterflies and bees in their pollination duty.
Turn off the lights when you move into another room. You can also invest in effective motion sensor lights for lighting your indoor and outdoor spaces.
Don’t kill or captivate any bugs or butterflies for fun. Instead, enjoy them fluttering their wings in nature.
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