What do we know?
As one can imagine, observing and quantifying insect
population data can be challenging. Although some larger
insects such as butterflies and bees can more easily be
counted, it is not efficient to count tiny insects. Instead, in
some studies, researchers collect flying insects by using nets
on moving vehicles and then calculate them by their total
weight, or biomass, rather than by total quantity. A 27-year
study in Germany notes a 76 percent decline in flying insect
biomass. Worldwide, the insect biomass decline is eight times
faster than the biomass decline for mammals. This means
that eight pounds of insects are dying for every pound of
mammals that die. Shockingly, 40 percent of the world’s insect
species are threatened with extinction.
The news in the United States is not good either. The
monarch butterfly population, a migrating insect is a good
example. From 2017 to 2018, the West Coast monarch
butterfly population was down 86 percent. That’s an 86
percent decline in one year! According to the article "The
Insect Apocalypse is Here," published in the New York
Times, the Western monarch butterfly community is down
99.4 percent, a 900 million decrease in population since
the 1980s. Estimates put the current population at 30,000.
Many scientists fear that one more bad year could lead to
the extinction of the West Coast monarch butterflies which
winter in Southern California.
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Monarch butterflies on Kiawah, which are from the
Eastern population, spending summers east of the Rockies,
and winter in Mexico, have also been experiencing a similar
downward trend with one exception. Data from 2017 to 2018
shows an aberration. Eastern monarch butterfly populations
experienced a 144 percent increase. This positive news is
attributed to exceptionally good weather conditions during
breeding season as well as a concerted effort to protect
native habitat along the monarch butterfly migration path.
Although this data is encouraging, scientists do not believe
that one good year is enough to reverse the downward trend
of the Eastern monarch butterfly. Although they can’t control
weather conditions, they hope that through education,
essential habitat areas can continue to be preserved and
restored in the future to help reverse the trend.
What is causing this catastrophe?
Humans are, and here is how. We are destroying habitat
through aggressive growth, deforestation, and poorly planned
development. One study reports that rainforests in Puerto
Rico have lost between 78 percent to 98 percent of their
insect population. Many communities experiencing rapid
new growth have drained wetlands and modified flood
plains. During the 1990s in the Midwest, millions of acres of
wetlands near the Mississippi River Basin were plowed under
and built upon, and of course, eventually flooded. It does not
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