The Buzzes Behind Biodiversity: The Often Overlooked Role of Insects

Artwork by Varvara Tretiakova

By: Raiyan Bakshi, 17, US

Insects… Pesky rashes, annoying buzz, disease vectors, overall nuisance. We usually don’t think of their tireless pollination, waste decomposition, and many other natural processes they facilitate.

The truth is insects, as pesky as they may be, are crucial for life on earth. We see them in everyday products from honey to silk. The health of our soil and food is heavily influenced by insects. They decompose organic matter and recycle these nutrients back into our soil, stimulating the nutrient rich crops we end up eating. While many think of insects as the pest, many of them like ladybugs, spiders and dragonflies, control pest populations, which also reduce the need for chemical pesticides. Furthermore, our ecosystems rely on them as a means of seed dispersal, pollination, or promoting biodiversity by being the primary food source for smaller animals.

Unfortunately, their survival, along with the benefits the Earth enjoys, are in danger. Intensive pesticide use in modern agriculture often stimulates too strong of a reaction for the natural balance of the ecosystem, not only wiping insect populations, but hurting the food web. Habit loss from excess urbanization and deforestation generally causes losses of biodiversity, but with insects it often has a compounding effect with many of their dependent species also hurt. Changes in climates and extreme weather patterns disrupts usual insect life cycle behaviours with crop flowering, diminishing their pollination rates.

These problems have no easy fix, but addressing them is necessary in our fight to protect our planet. Policies for sustainable agriculture and pesticide use, controlled land development, and dependency away from fossil fuels contributing to global warming are all steps in the right direction.

As we commit ourselves to saving our life on earth’s land, let’s not forget about our tiny allies promoting nature in our land, air and seas.