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Bugged: Earth's Insect Population Shrinks 27% in 30 Years

Associated Press

   KENSINGTON, MARYLAND - The world has lost more than one quarter of its
   land-dwelling insects in the past 30 years, according to researchers
   whose big picture study of global bug decline paints a disturbing but
   more nuanced problem than earlier research.

   From bees and other pollinators crucial to the world's food supply to
   butterflies that beautify places, the bugs are disappearing at a rate
   of just under 1% a year, with lots of variation from place to place,
   according to a study in Thursday's journal Science.

   That's a tinier population decline than found by some smaller localized
   studies, which had triggered fears of a so-called insect apocalypse.
   But it still adds up to something "awfully alarming," said entomologist
   Roel van Klink of the German Centre for Integrative Biology, the
   study's lead author.

   "The decline across insect orders on land is jaw dropping," said
   Michigan State University butterfly expert Nick Haddad, who wasn't part
   of the study. "Ongoing decline on land at this rate will be
   catastrophic for ecological systems and for humans. Insects are
   pollinators, natural enemies of pests, decomposers and besides that,
   are critical to functioning of all Earth's ecosystems."

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