Anja Murray: We are facing an insect apocalypse but recovery is still possible
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Most of us readily admit to liking animals. What we don’t tend to realise is that more than half of all the animal species in Ireland are insects.
On this little island alone, there are upwards of 11,000 different species of insect. We appreciate and admire the more charismatic species such as bumblebees, butterflies, ladybirds, and even songful grasshoppers.
However, there are thousands of other species groups who go about their business barely noticed, yet are fundamental to life on earth. Without insects, nothing much in the world would function properly.
We are mostly well aware of the role of pollinators for sustaining some of our favourite food crops, for example, cocoa flowers are pollinated by midges, without whom we might never have chocolate.
Bees pollinate about one-third of the world’s food crops; in Ireland, crops such as apples, strawberries, clover and oilseed rape all depend on pollinators.
And aside from cultivated plants, most wild plants rely on insect pollinators to reproduce. Without them, many ecosystems would collapse.
But there is so much more to insects than their role as pollinators. Insects are the ‘essential workers’ who process compounds in the soil that maintain soil fertility; insects break down waste and recycle nutrients in every ecosystem.
Woodlice, millipedes, and an army of ‘decomposers’ live in the soil and chomp through fallen autumn leaves, recycling nutrients that plants and other animals couldn’t live without.
Beetles, caterpillars, moths, hoverflies, flies, aphids, shiledbugs, weevils, ants, and wasps provide the nutritional mainstay in most food webs.
Birds, frogs, bats, badgers, and hedgehogs all feed on insects and their larvae.
Insectivorous birds such as swallows, swifts and house martins feed exclusively on insects, while most of our songbirds depend on insects during the nesting season, when little chicks need a steady supply of protein-rich food to survive.
Knowing just how crucial insects are to us and just about every other living thing makes it hard to fully absorb the news that we seem to be facing an insect apocalypse.
In recent years several major international scientific assessments have raised the alarm about the rates at which insect species everywhere are declining.
In 2019, the first-ever global synthesis on insect declines revealed almost a third of the insect species included in the study have reached such low levels that they’re now under threat of extinction.
Other major studies have found that the volume of many insects is decreasing by a few percent each year, so in another decade, the cumulative impact will leave the world with 20% less insects than today; the trajectory is indeed alarming.
How do these global trends reflect what we know of Irelands’ insects? We have 100 different species of bees in Ireland, and we know that over half of these have suffered substantial declines since 1980, when monitoring began.
Almost one third of wild bee species are considered threatened with extinction here.
Many of our native butterflies are struggling too — since 2008 there are now 6% fewer butterflies flying around Irish habitats, an enormous decline in such a short space of time.
There are many reasons why this is happening. It’s a case of death by a thousand cuts. Enormous changes occurred in agriculture here through the 1970s and '80s.
A switch from hay to silage production has driven widespread loss of species-rich pastures and meadows, all with a wealth of wildflowers, all of which once provided nectar and pollen for bees and other insects.
Agricultural drainage schemes have destroyed countless wetlands and river habitats up and down the country, no doubt impacting aquatic insects.
With an ongoing programme of agricultural intensification, dramatic changes in how we manage the land are continuing apace.
The spread of forestry plantations leaves little room for flowering plants or the insects who make their home among diverse semi-natural habitats.
The use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, both domestically and agriculturally, has become the norm in a way that was never the case 50 years ago.
But where there is knowledge, there is hope; we have very good information on what we can do to reverse the trends.
This is a whole lot better than a scenario in which we could have no idea what is going wrong or what we might be able to do about it.
Monitoring schemes for bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other insect groups are underway though the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
Considering just how essential insects are to every living thing, including us, it is now time to do the things we know are needed to prevent further collapse of insect populations.
Restoring a wide range of habitats will have countless other benefits too; if we fail, the fallout will be unfathomable.
Each of us, as individuals, can start to celebrate the wonder of insects and make place for them in gardens, parks, and farmland.
Insect communities need a diversity of wild plants in order to thrive, from tiny mosses to native trees. We can ease up on pesticide use.
The ‘All Ireland pollinator Action Plan’ offers guidance for individuals, businesses, communities, businesses, farmers, and local authorities to make the changes that are needed for pollinators.
Recovery is still possible. Most insects produce a lot of offspring; this means that if habitats are restored, protected, and connected through the landscape, then many insect populations have a good chance of bouncing back.
Insects are the tiny unsung heroes, essential for the health of every ecosystem.
There is hope that if we can adapt to the needs of the tiny majority, they will be able to carry on doing the essential work that sustains us all.
- Anja Murray is an ecologist and broadcaster, she is a regular presenter on ‘Eco Eye’ on RTÉ 1 and writes the weekly ‘Nature File’ on RTÉ Lyric FM.