Apocalypses of insects: all over the world they are disappearing, due to the climate crisis and intensive agriculture

    Apocalypses of insects: all over the world they are disappearing, due to the climate crisis and intensive agriculture

    Rising temperatures and intensive agriculture represent increasingly concrete and real threats to the survival of insects and, with them, ecosystems

    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    In order for an ecosystem to function well, it needs a multiplicity of plant and animal elements, and each of these plays a very important role: plants provide shelter and food for animals; trees give shade and nutrients to the soil through leaves and fruit they drop; animals contribute to the "cleaning" of the natural environment by eating the little ones or the plants.





    In short, each has its own weight within the ecosystem: removing even one of the elements inevitably causes the destruction of the entire environment. Unfortunately, intensive agriculture and the climate crisis are among the main causes of the impoverishment of ecosystems, as shown by a new study conducted by researchers at University College London.

    This is the first study that linked changes in land use and global warming with biodiversity loss and the extinction of animal species: according to what emerges from the study, climate change and the intensive use of agricultural land have already been responsible for a reduction of almost half of insects in the most affected parts of the world.

    (Read also: Not just bees: how many species of pollinators does a lawn need?)

    Many insects appear to be very vulnerable to human pressure, which is worrying as climate change presses on and agricultural areas continue to expand - he explains. Charlie Outhwaite, among the authors of the study. - Our findings highlight the urgent need for action to preserve natural habitats, slow the expansion of intensive agriculture and reduce emissions to mitigate climate change.

    The researchers focused, in particular, on insect populations, examining more than 750.000 samples belonging to approximately 18.000 distinct species. The study then cross-referenced the biodiversity data of insects with those relating to intensive agriculture practiced in the various areas and with the level of climate warming suffered by the region.

    It emerged that, in areas with high-intensity agriculture and characterized by significant levels of climate warming, the number of insects was 49% lower than in other areas less affected by abnormal temperatures; the number of different species that are not insects also decreased (-29%). Tropical areas have experienced the largest declines in insect biodiversity related to land use and climate change.



    The researchers also found that, in areas characterized by significant global warming but not affected by intensive agriculture, the loss of biodiversity among insect species was more limited: in areas characterized by three quarters of uncultivated land, the loss of insect species has stopped at 7%; in areas with only 25% of uncultivated land, the loss has risen to 63%.

    But what are the most serious effects of such a loss of biodiversity at the level of insects? In addition to damaging ecosystems, which are deprived of essential actors for their survival, the disappearance of many species of insects (especially pollinating ones) could damage our food security, causing the disappearance of crops essential for our survival.

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    Fonti: Nature / University College of London

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