This meadow is home to countless insects seemingly unassuming creatures that are a far might hear than meets the eye in fact insects were the 1st flying animals for some 400000000 years theyve been a key part of the earths ecosystem. And smelling a butterfly or a beautiful wild beetle brings us so much enjoy that part of our culture and nature and of the beauty that lifts our spirits. Insects are an unrivaled evolutionary success but now they are under threat. Around the world insects are in catastrophic decline some species are dying out many rural areas have grown silent alarmingly so for insects are at the center of all life on earth. But not so if insects disappear and eco systems collapse that would be a catastrophe when. The world of insects is complex and beautiful and fragile. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Around the world more and more people are sounding the alarm without insects our entire food chain would collapse is in the us ruthless exploitation in agriculture and constant push for more stripping our fields down to the very last seed leaving nothing for animals its insanity and sometimes it just makes me furious. And often think if i wait another 15 years insects will be gone forever its like Climate Change were at the point where we need to take action in a very serious way. Mealworms make for a hearty breakfast and the 1st guests are already here we begin our investigation into the disappearance of insects with a visit to an expert on birds. The world of insects and of birds are closely intertwined its pay top assholes is 1. 00 of germanys leading bird experts and the former director of the cell ornithological Research Unit at the max planck institute. For me being out in nature is an important breathing is food and drink. And i stay in a miserable hotel and get served eggs that comes from god knows where i notice what im missing. When i wake up in the morning and feel strong and clear headed i go to my chickens and i know its going to be a good day. Well thats all i need to enjoy life thats all i need to be happy absolute is leaving. Its. Time to dig and its its its its just. This is a true paradise at least nowadays in the past this would have been completely ordinary back then every village from garmisch to flynns were going to look like this just about every household would have kept chickens which theyd feed out new yard chickens would have been joined by sparrows to mice red starved black birds starlings because of all those small farms you saw birds all across germany from the northern coast to the alps. Well nowadays you have to make a special effort to create this. So where are the birds. There and havent heard havent voted. Young has slings feet on insects brought to them by their parents and insects are an increasingly short supply nowadays. Has been observing this decline for decades when he 1st began working at the institute in the 1970 s. The researchers used to catch insects to feed the birds over the years the number of insects dwindled today there are hardly any. 800. 00 are bird populations have declined by about 80 percent across species migratory and resident birds birds the insects and those that he brings in sea. And one major reason is loss of habitat and breeding grounds due to overbuilding habitat destruction the filling of ponds. But another important factor is the loss of food both the loss of seeds and grains and the loss of insects which. Page about old often sits at his window and documents the stark decline in bird populations. In the past while herds used to grow amidst the wheat fields their seeds helped nourish birds but those days are long gone hate about old says modern farming practices are to blame its todays farms are too efficient too antiseptic and their monoculture is he says thats why hes created his own kingdom a lush meadow orchard interspersed with grasses and wild plants that are paradise for insects. So its the insect then all those different we see and plants used to be home to hundreds and thousands of insect species over there gone out to. All of those monoculture fields planted with nothing but corn wheat barley oats when it comes to the food that birds need theyre no better than a desert that also holds true when it comes to the gardens people plant nowadays theres nothing left for birds to aid its the loss of habitat and of food that have caused this dramatic population decline. Both birds and insects have suffered theyre drawn to the few wild meadows that are left in germany like here in the far west of the country this lush meadow grows naturally without any kind of fertiliser its home to more than 100. 00 species of plant and insect. A modern farm has little to offer by comparison. We change how we farm to help protect and sustain insect populations. And. We pay a visit to the university of high board. Here at the institute for Nature Conservation and landscape ecology alexandra. Klein is investigating the role of insects in Agricultural Landscapes. Or in the tides are going to determine the species we examine every little detail in the hair each individual core or the end tena those little horns you see on bees if we can count the number of segments on the flagellum to determine whether a b. S. Male or female i mean we can see whether its gathered pollen we examine the color of the pollen which is really fascinating to figure out what kind it is applying to the. Climate is studying how to preserve the diversity of plants and animals in our modern cultivated landscapes. Insects are crucial in preserving that biodiversity. There are tens of thousands of insect species they play an Important Role in decomposing organic matter dead plants would animals and feces so insects help keep the earth clean. There also pollinators without them we wouldnt have fruit or vegetables and there wouldnt be food for other living creatures either. Without insects other animals would starve like fish salamanders lizards and birds in fact all plants and animals would die leaving us with nothing but bare earth even coffee and chocolate wouldnt exist. We pay a visit to a farm near Lake Constance there are 100000 apple trees on this farm and they all need pollinators. Marcus marshall is going to help alexander climb from the university of pride book carry out an experiment even though hes not an organic farmer Marcus Marshall has a keen interest in bees. He has beehives on his property and has set up what are called flower buffer strips. His orchards appear to be thriving so is he affected by declining insect populations. Not a suitable being here its a problem for me i depend on nature and we need insects and the birds need them to fit them give over me all the ball north for the grounds of. What would happen if insects were to die off completely. If the bees were to disappear. Alexandra maria klein is hoping to find out more with an ingenious experiment if you have a. And thats why for 5 trees thats all we need and theyre going to wrap several apple trees these water pipes will serve as scaffolding for the net for the 4th of the month week and if. Its a bit improvised sure but we want this to be quick and easy the on the cant of course of course over the private. Thoughts throughout this ordeal and. Next comes the net. It will keep insects away from the blossoms on this small group of trees. The trees already have netting on them to protect them from hail now theyre getting another canopy. All around the test patch are rows and rows of apple trees. For much of the National Size is perfect no insects or pollinators can get in to try but the wind will still be able to transport pollen through the net boy floyd. Apple blossoms can be pollinated by the wind as well as by insects. And. He said whats this red sign for this is where we dont want any be. And what about over here. And here from out of this is where we want to be used to pollinate were market with yellow for honey bees. The for the hunter store and this is where well pollinate by hand will pollinate every single blossom here so this will mark with green room so here she mince will do the work of pollination. Vendean if we end up with more apples here high quality apples that would mean that there arent enough b. S. At Lake Constance singing it. The experiment is designed to see whether hands pollination is more successful than what nature can offer. Klein is expecting that the covered trees will yield fewer apples the marshals arent so sure. I always say if we see one being a tree thats enough. Im happy to take part in this experiment to see how the bees are doing but to be honest i think we can get out without the. So is he right time will tell. A much larger experiment is underway in the eifel region of western germany. Research institutes have joined forces here to investigate whats behind the insect die off. Researchers from clay feld who have conducted a number of important studies are also here. One of them is martin saw. 2 years ago he published the results of a long term study of some protected areas in germany which found a 75 percent decline in flying insect biomass over 27 years. The alarming results made headlines around the world. Is oregons setting up a number of traps along a line extending from a conventionally farm field into a Nature Preserve. The researchers want to find out if any changes are taking place along this line. What is happening to insects in the zone of contact separating the Nature Preserve from the farmland. Livias scheffler is the project leader. She is investigating the impact of modern agricultural methods including the use of pesticides and fertilizers on the diversity of plant and animal life in nearby protected areas theyre measuring catching and examining everything they can get their hands on insects that fly bugs that crawl vegetation birds and even backs on fire and fees the traps for ground dwelling in sacks like built on the roof would have been hyped into the ground. War this is a funnel that means that. Concurrency and. Then fall into the alcohol which preserves them for the d. N. A. Analysis will carry out later. This right yet when arranged it so that the beatles will crawl on it. So what kinds of results are they expecting to find. Now. I think if youre trying to narrow down what factors are responsible for the decline in insect population and. With that information we can make evidence based recommendations and advice policymakers. I also want to work with thomas to develop adaptations that will allow the farmers to thrive but also provide more scope for biodiversity me a whole gets and. We accompany martin so i took a felt hes bringing a few more samples with him for analysis hes already examined tens of thousands of similar samples. In the your eye for those in the field of entomology were dealing with an immense diversity of insect species that this and this we know that there are well over 33000 species of insect in germany but what weve found is that most of these species are suffering from a serious population decline also the difference in. The case felt researchers have been able to document these changes over decades they have been systematically catching counting and recording insect populations for years always using the same methods. This makes their data especially reliable. They have also amassed a unique trove of samples which they keep in storage. For many years the work of entomologists wasnt taken all that seriously. Their painstaking research and documentation seemed Old Fashioned times have changed and now entomologist are in high demand the researchers 1st take a look at the catch before they begin counting and classifying martin zorak suspects that at least 1400 species have already vanished once a species has died out in a particular region it cant be reintroduced each species fills a particular nation an ecosystem that cant be replicated. Through martin saw accents the true scale of the die off is only now becoming apparent. At the alexander conic Research Museum in bonn Livia Scheffler is analyzing samples from the eiffel region. What insect species do they contain. The days in which each insect would be counted and classified individually are long gone. Insect taxonomist are in short supply nowadays Livia Scheffler says it would take decades to classify this all by hand. Today researchers employed genetic analysis to distinguish among insect species. The computer compares the genetic results with an online database and returns the results. One of livia shufflers goals is determining what role past decides are playing in the insect die off. For the genetic analysis the insects are pulverized and suspended in a solution. To. The age Research Institutes collaborating on the project hope to expand on the results documented by the feld study. In all men data so all the study published by our colleagues in cray felt seems to have opened a window. That will allow us to do something to preserve species diversity. One or maybe we can get politicians to listen to what were saying. We return to Lake Constance the apple plantation is in full bloom. Alexandra klein has brought a doctoral student with her theyre collecting pollen. These are announced or apple trees or 2 biologists plan to pollinate the elster trees by hand. But just gathering the pollen is no easy task they have to collect the pollen when the pods are perfectly right. Now they go to the test area to pollinate every single blossom by hand. And. It takes the 2 of them 5 hours to pollinate just 5 trees. To pollinate every tree on the plantation by hand would cost about a 1000000. 00 euros a year so what kind of harvest will this year old. Will this be the future of apple farming. You. Need to pollinating fruit trees by hand i hope not to their competition is just a few metres away in the beehive its almost full hardly an empty spot. The beehive is situated right at the edge of the apple plantation Marcos Marshall has several of them and hes pleased with the results. A student did you see that mason they do a lot and apple plantation is if you get out because of the it said look at the big one the just one inside its belly is covered in a pollen. Mason bees are very efficient pollinators just lie. Many wild beast species in this colony. The fleeting eye mason bees fly at different times than honeybees they can fly when the weather is not quite as nice or when its a bit windy or so they compliment the honey bee its the principle of biodiversity in action every species occupies a particular nisha when all the nations are filled and one species drops out the others will fill the breach and everything still gets pollinated and spring more than one human of a struggle flies through all. That pollination is crucial for fruit farming so as Marcus Marshall wright can orchards thrive even without bees. Alexander family a climber and her students continue on to a place with a wealth of insect biodiversity romania is europes last remaining paradise for insects. This part of transylvania is pristine almost untouched. By war meshaal lets find a spot for our 1st session its pretty windy so maybe down there in. The team are looking forward to what theyll find. Yet come for we mainly come to remain here because in a very short time we find a wide diversity of species of the same species we have at home but it takes a lot longer to find that afghans like it and often. Here on the hillside each student is observing an area of about 3 by 3 meters for 30 minutes at a time they try to catch and record all the insects they see. Sheep graze on the matter as in this part of romania that is also good for the insect population. Then the students find Something Special a moth caterpillar a lovely creature it will mature into a spurt talk more. Confidence we can try to feed it to death and. Look at starting to eat and so forth and its pretending to be a poisonous and dangerous it has a spike back year and that does help scare off the birds. And this is a spectrum for. The diversity of the landscape is mirrored in the diversity of insect species. A landscape dotted with small fields and meadows lined with hedges will be home to many many here in the land shaft looking at the landscape heres a small patch thats been mowed for the cow in the barn on the make tomorrow theyll know the patch next to it and over there its already grown back so every kind of insect will find a spot here and thats why there are so many of them of course we dont have this in germany any more. The group goes to 2 more meadows each one of them brimming with life. Countless grasshoppers bees and butterflies. Back in the makeshift laboratory at the guesthouse the insects are examined and classified. Its work that requires concentration and a steady hand. In a single afternoon they found an immense variety of species romania still has many stable biota hopes but 90 percent of farmland worldwide makes intensive use of agricultural chemicals which destabilized them. How can we make Agricultural Land hospitable again to a diversity of species. And enough heidegger land for trough Sustainable Agriculture next to make use of smaller fear that ideally we wouldnt use those huge tractors because they create a lot of problems or they compact the soil that fosters huge monocultures and destroys habitats. Smaller fields sometimes lined by a hedge or a strip of flowers a pile of rocks thats what we need to bring back again thing using land less efficiently would be a boon for insect life but not for farmers subsidies might allow farmers to use fewer pesticides and to reduce the size of their fields benguet and if we farm that way then it might not be so bad if pesticides gets used once in a while. And thats why its so important to create more varied landscape we have to draw on farmers and theyre willing to do that theyre often wonderful people with an immense troupe of knowledge there that we need to make them the conservationists of the future profit so that they can produce food and maintain the diversity of species. A lovely vision of the future. After a day of work the students have Something Special in store and night time expedition. That i discovered you know if i think it only has one jumping leg. A cricket called a want to buy it or a species that suffered under modern agriculture then comes another rare find a huge moth. Around the room. The students have never seen a pretty talk mouth like this before its one of the largest mouth species. Their visit has taken them to a world that vanished