A new study joins a growing compendium of alarm signals pointing at today’s deplorable condition of flying insects. This latest entry did not rush its conclusions. Instead, the team of scientists has been keeping numerous habitats of insect biomass under observation for a period of 27 years.
Their findings indicate a dropping rate of 75% among insect population in Germany over the last three decades. If this decay of the flying kingdom doesn’t stop, the ecosystems and food chain are in for unpleasant changes.
Researchers Studied 63 Protected Areas Rich in Insect Biomass across Germany
On Wednesday, Plos One published a concerning study about the current status of the population of flying insects. Their observations guided them to the conclusion that the protected areas of insects in Germany lost 75% of their biomass over the last 27 years. The minds behind this paper are Researchers from Radboud University, Netherlands and the Entomological Society Krefeld in Germany.
Researchers supervised insect activity in 63 nature protection regions across Germany. They used Malaise traps to observe the fluctuations of their population.
This structure has the looks of a tent. It is used to observe flying insects. When they enter the structure, they hit the wall, and their natural instinct tells them to fly upwards. This is where the trap collects them in a vessel mounted at the highest point.
The Dramatic Drop in Insect Population Wasn’t Linked to Climate Change
The new study draws a parallel between global estimations of insect decline from 58% (1970 and 2012) to 75% (1989 and 2016) in Germany alone. However, it seems inexplicable why the insect biomass would present such decaying conditions within areas in nature that are protected by law.
Another insightful finding is that the decline in insect populations didn’t depend on the type of habitat. Moreover, weather changes and land use didn’t cause a significant enough impact to be viewed as the cause of this massive biomass loss.
In the end, the sole theoretic explanation regarded the excessive use of pesticide and intensive agriculture practices. The authors urged more specialists to discover the possible reasons that triggered this phenomenon. Their achievements might help save pollinating plants, animals, ecosystems as they all depend on flying insects as nutritional sources and functionality.
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