The combination of climate change and heavy agriculture is having a profound impact on the abundance and diversity of insects, according to a study published [April 20] in the journal Nature.
In areas where substantial warming has been documented and where land has been converted for intensive agriculture — meaning it involves monoculture or the use of pesticides — insects were nearly 50 percent less abundant, and more than a quarter fewer species could be found, the study said.
David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist who was not involved in the research, said the study thoroughly documents insect losses at a time when humans are “basically erasing large fractions of the tree of life in short periods of time.”
Wagner — whose previous research has suggested the world loses 1 percent to 2 percent of its insects every year — said the new study is unique for its broad scale and size.
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“There have been many studies on climate change and insects. This is perhaps the largest and most quantitative. It’s global in scope, and we really needed data from the Southern Hemisphere and tropical regions,” Wagner said. “That’s the cradle for the tree of life — 80 percent of all animals and plants are in the tropics.”
