Why insects are so crucial to life on Earth

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Insects make up around 70% of all known species - but many are struggling. Biologist David Goulson explores how we can protect them better.

Script by Prof Dave Goulson. Music by Roshan Gunga NARRATOR: We live on a planet of insects. They make up around 70% of all known species on the Earth, and their combined biomass is 16 times that of humans. 300 million years ago, giant dragonflies with wingspans of 75 centimetres soared amongst the tree ferns. Nowadays, insects are extraordinarily diverse, existing in a bewildering array of colours, shapes and sizes, and they play a crucial role in life on Earth.

Most insects will suffer. Bumblebees are disappearing from the southern edges of their range, overheating in their furry coats as the climate warms. Droughts, floods and forest fires will ravage already depleted insect populations. In 1962, American biologist Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, warning that we were doing terrible damage to our planet. She wrote: "Man is a part of nature, "and his war against nature "is inevitably a war against himself.

 

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