Rising Temperatures, Extensive Agriculture Reduce Insect Populations by Half in Some Tropical Regions

Climate change and intense agricultural land use have already resulted in a 49% decline in the number of insects in the most damaged places of the world, according to a new study by UCL researchers.

The study, published in Nature, is the first to show that an interplay between rising temperatures and land use changes is causing widespread losses in a variety of insect species throughout the world.

Reduction of numbers in insect population

(Photo : ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

A new research warned that climate change and intensive agriculture have nearly reduced insect populations in certain tropical regions of the planet.

From 1992 to 2012, researchers at University College London examined the records of approximately 20,000 insect species.

They discovered that the number of insects was 49% fewer in places with high-intensity agriculture and significant climatic warming than in natural settings, as per ScienceDaily.

Loss of insect populations might be hazardous not just to the natural environment, where insects frequently play vital roles in local ecosystems, but also to human health and food security, especially if pollinators are lost, according to Dr. Charlie Outhwaite, the main author of the study.

The decline of insect populations might be hazardous not just to the natural environment, where insects typically play important roles in local ecosystems, but also to human health and food security, especially if pollinators are lost.

The findings may simply be the tip of the iceberg because there is scant data in some locations, notably the tropics, where we discovered significant losses in insect biodiversity in the most damaged areas.

The researchers examined a vast dataset of insect abundance and species richness from throughout the world, which included roughly 20,000 insect species and three-quarters of a million recordings.

Also Read: Rapid Decline of Insect Population Causes Scientists to Worry About Earth's Future

Loss of population in different habitats

The researchers discovered that in areas of low-intensity agriculture and significant climate warming, having nearby natural habitat buffered the losses: where natural habitat covered 75% of the land, insect abundance declined by only 7%, compared to a 63% reduction in comparable areas with only 25% natural habitat cover.

Because many insects rely on plants for shade on hot days, the loss of natural habitats may make them more vulnerable to climate change.

According to the researchers, insect decreases due to human effects may be much worse than their data imply because many places with long histories of human impacts would have experienced biodiversity losses before the start of the study period.

"The environmental disadvantages of high-intensity agriculture provide a hard problem as we strive to keep up with food demands of a growing population," said Dr. Tim Newbold, senior author of the study, as per Dailymail.

They previously discovered that insect pollinators are particularly sensitive to agricultural growth since they appear to be 70% less common in high-intensity croplands compared to natural habitats.

Careful agricultural area management, such as protecting natural habitats near farming, may assist to guarantee that critical insects may continue to thrive.

Worryingly, the researchers believe that the insect losses might be even worse than the data implies, pointing out that they did not account for other factors such as pollution.

The study's co-first author, Peter McCann, stated that people need to recognize how vital insects are for the environment as a whole, as well as for human health and welfare, in order to address the challenges humans, pose to them before many species become extinct.

According to Professor Jane Hill, an Ecology professor at the University of York who was not involved in the study, the study reveals that there is likely no insect 'winner' from global warming in the tropics.

Related article: Beatles, Butterflies Population Thriving While Some Insects Decline in Numbers