Amid deforestation, pesticide use, artificial light pollution and climate change, insects are struggling along with the crops, flowers and other animals that rely on them to survive.
By Gloria Dickie and Simon Scarr (Reuters) - As a boy in the 1960s, David Wagner would run around his family's Missouri farm with a glass jar clutched.
As a boy in the 1960s, David Wagner would run around his family s Missouri farm with a glass jar clutched in his hand, scooping flickering fireflies out of the sky.
For comparison, the human population is growing at slightly less than 1% per year. “Even at the low end of 1% a year, after just 40 years you’re down more than one-third of species and one-third of individuals a third of the entire tree of life lost,” said Wagner, who led the 2021 metastudy, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As human activities rapidly transform the planet, the global insect population is declining at an unprecedented rate. Amid deforestation, pesticide use, artificial light pollution and climate change, these critters are struggling.