Updated on 04/20/2022, 17:00
- Insects are particularly affected by the combination of climate change and agriculture, as scientists have now discovered.
- According to this, they would have already caused a reduction in the number of insects by almost 50%.
- This, in turn, can have consequences for human health and food security.
In combination, climate change and intensive agriculture have a particularly destructive effect on many insect populations, according to one study. In the most severely affected regions, they have already ensured a reduction in insect numbers by nearly 50% – compared to largely natural habitats that have so far been hardly affected by warming, researchers report in the journal Nature. Biodiversity is about 30% lower.
According to the assessment, where 75 percent of the area was still covered by natural vegetation and there was no intensive agriculture, the number of insects was only about 7 percent lower than in the comparison areas, and the number of species around of 5 percent.
The results are just the tip of the iceberg.
Scientists led by Charlotte Outhwaite of University College London included data on temperature changes and land use changes from 6,000 different locations around the world in their analyses. In total, they covered a period of 20 years (1992-2012). The datasets were combined with populations of nearly 18,000 insect species.
According to the researchers, the results may only show the tip of the iceberg: for certain areas, for example in the severely affected tropics, there is only limited data, making it difficult to estimate developments. Furthermore, humans have been influencing populations for more than 20 years – declines during this period are not recorded in the study. This also applies to the effects of other factors, such as environmental pollution.
The loss of insects harms people
The Outhwaite scientists also emphasize that their study shows a statistical connection, not a causal connection. However, several other studies support the assumptions. With continued global warming, the risk to insect biodiversity from interactions between land use and climate change will be even greater, the researchers conclude, even in temperate zones.
The loss of insect populations harms not only natural habitats, where insects often play a key role, but also human health and food security, particularly through the loss of pollinators. (sbi/dpa)
Updated on 02/21/2022 at 14:19
Humans are changing the climate, that’s for sure. Politicians are reacting, for example, with the planned phase-out of coal power and the promotion of electric cars. But that alone is not enough – that’s the conclusion of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.