| | | Love ‘em or hate ‘em, bugs are integral to the biodiversity of the world in which we live. American biologist E. O. Wilson once said: “If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed 10,000 years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.” While human activity continues to influence the shifting climate of the world, Wilson’s words ring ever true. Still, the immediate impacts to global ecology aren’t so straightforward. Changing temperatures have decimated populations of insects in some places, but in others we see an entirely different result. Today’s Daily Dose shows you how, when it comes to insects and the warming of the planet, there will be both winners and losers — only, the victors often appear to be the bugs we’d rather be rid of. — Based on reporting by Andrew Mentock | | |
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| UNEXPECTED INVASIONS | | | 1 - Traveling Tree Killers The emerald ash borer, the goldspotted oak borer and the mountain pine beetle are all tree-killing insects that have migrated to previously safe regions of North America. Experts say this could be due to a longer life cycle resulting from earlier springs or fewer winter deaths due to milder conditions. “If it gets down to around minus 20 Fahrenheit, which is not uncommon for Minnesota, then you can expect about 50% of the emerald ash borer to die in the winter,” Rob Venette, a research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and the director of the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center, tells OZY. “But if it gets down to minus 30, and minus 30 used to be very common in the northern part of the state, you’d expect about 90% of emerald ash borers to die.” As winter temperatures rise, he’s concerned this insect will continue trekking north. |
| 2 - Compounding Climate Change Trees play a central role in climate change as carbon dioxide-soaking life forces. But as millions die each year from the aforementioned beetles, research suggests that rotting trees are contributing to the devastating effects of climate change. “What happens when trees die is they decompose, and a large fraction of that dead carbon will ultimately be released into the atmosphere,” Andrew Liebhold of the U.S. Forest Service, tells OZY. “The whole point is that these insects and disease invasions appear to be aggravating the atmospheric carbon dioxide problem, because they’re accelerating rates of tree mortality.” |
| 3 - Culling Crops Rice, corn and wheat are the three most consumed crops in the world. As temperatures rise, research suggests the Earth will experience a devastating loss of all three to insects, which already eat a significant portion of each crop. With each degree Celsius the Earth’s temperature rises, we can expect pesky insects to gobble up an additional 10% to 25% of these staple crops, likely adding to a worldwide food insecurity issue that has already been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We expect to see increasing crop losses due to insect activity for two basic reasons,” says Curtis Deutsch, a University of Washington associate professor of oceanography. “First, warmer temperatures increase insect metabolic rates exponentially. Second, with the exception of the tropics, warmer temperatures will increase the reproductive rates of insects. You have more insects, and they’re eating more.” |
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| | | HEIGHTENED HUMAN HEALTH RISK | | | 1 - Future Zika Outbreaks Six years ago, the World Health Organization considered the international outbreak of the Zika virus to be a global health emergency. If infected, virus symptoms are often mild to nonexistent. But some people develop paralysis, and infected women were at elevated risk of delivering babies with serious birth defects. The virus has primarily been found in Aedes species mosquitoes, which are commonly found in the tropical climates of tropical Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. “In cooler temperatures the virus may take too long to replicate, with the mosquito dying before it becomes infectious,” says Dr. Marcus Blagrove, a virologist at the University of Liverpool. But in 2020, Blagrove and his colleagues mapped the future risk of Zika on a global scale. His research found that if temperatures continue to rise at a fast rate, mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus could migrate to the northern U.S., China, Eastern Europe and Japan by 2080. “For particularly warm years in future,” Blagrove says, “policymakers in countries at risk may have to consider measures such as reducing mosquito populations.” |
| 2 - Kiss of Death The kissing bug, a six-legged insect with two sets of wings and an exoskeleton slightly larger than a penny, has a disgusting way of making you sick. Like mosquitoes, they survive on animal blood, and their flirty name comes from their propensity for landing on your face while you sleep. But in exchange for the blood the kissing bug takes, which in itself can cause anaphylactic shock in those allergic, it defecates and may leave behind the parasite T. cruzi, which can lead to infections of the potentially fatal Chagas disease. Historically, kissing bugs were found in Latin America and the southern United States, but researchers have long predicted that the kissing bug will travel farther north as temperatures continue to rise. |
| 3 - Lyme Disease on the Rise Over a 28 year period, the incidence of Lyme disease cases per 100,000 people in the U.S. almost doubled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The common vector-borne disease leads to symptoms like fever and skin rash within a month of infection. A mosquito or flea can transmit the disease, but it’s most commonly associated with another infectious bloodsucker, the tick. The EPA reports that the most significant Lyme disease increases have occurred in north eastern states such as Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. While ticks are historically found in that part of New England, the lifespan of a tick is highly dependent on temperature. Essentially, longer periods where the ground temperature is above 45 degrees can increase the annual duration us humans are exposed to Lyme disease-carrying ticks. |
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| THE SAVIORS OF COLOR | | | 1 - Pollination Crisis In some cases, the biggest insect losers in a warming world will be those humanity relies on. For a variety of reasons, the populations of a significant portion of the Earth’s pollinators are declining, with climate change a key contributor. Depending upon the climate of a region, the percentage of flowering plants that count on pollinators, which assist in the fertilization process, is anywhere between 78% and 94%, with plants in tropical areas relying on them the most. There is a wide range of creatures that are pollinators, from hummingbirds to bats to thousands of insect species. If they aren’t able to carry out the vital part of a plant’s growing process that they facilitate, foods we know and love — chocolate, coffee beans, apples and zucchini, to name a few — would dwindle. |
| 2 - Beauty as a Bygone Considered one of the most beautiful and majestic of insects, the butterfly is also an accomplished pollinator. Unfortunately, a recent study looking at more than 450 butterfly species saw a steep decline in many cases, especially in the case of the Pacific coast’s western monarch, whose numbers have waned by 99.9% over the last 40 years. Because the declines occurred in areas underdeveloped by humans, a recent study deduced that climate change is the likely culprit. “Our impacts of carbon usage have now changed the environment so much that those areas are now drier and hotter into the fall,” Kathleen Prudic, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, tells OZY. She explains that it’s continuously becoming less hospitable for most living organisms, especially insects. In addition to their roles as pollinators, butterflies, as well as caterpillars, are a major source of food for a variety of animals, including dwindling bird populations. |
| 3 - What About the Bees? Despite what the headlines might lead you to believe, the honey bee is not at risk of extinction. On the contrary, managed honey bee colonies are on the rise. While that’s the good news, there are actually more than 20,000 known bee species, and many are not so fortunate due to a variety of reasons, ranging from loss of habitat to new parasites and diseases. To a lesser degree, erratic weather brought on by climate change is also problematic for bees. “That makes it very, very difficult for insects that are dependent on floral sources for their nutrition to be in sync with the plants,” Kirsten Traynor, the director of the Institute of Bee Research in Celle, Germany, tells OZY. For instance, if the life cycle of a particular plant changes due to warmer temperatures, some native bees may miss their short pollination window. Although more research is still needed, with each mismatched year, the population is at risk of shrinking. |
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| | | SOLUTIONS AHEAD | | | 1 - Adapt and Correct Some insects are more resilient than others and instead of simply migrating toward cooler temperatures, they’ll actually be able to stand the heat. Researchers have discovered that ants living in microclimates known as “heat islands” that exist in some U.S. cities are doing just as well as their neighbors living in cooler, rural areas nearby. “What we’re finding is the potential for ants — and other animals, perhaps — to evolve in response to anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change,” says Sarah Diamond, the lead researcher of a report titled “Ants, acorns and climate change.” This, however, doesn’t take into account the potentially devastating effect the accelerating loss of certain plant species globally could also have on ants. As for the pesky cockroach, studies have shown they can handle much higher levels of radiation than humans. So it should come as no surprise that this adaptable bug has a better chance of surviving the horrors of climate change than most other insects. |
| 2 - What Can I Do? Rather than dropping to your knees and praying that more insects turn out to be just as resilient as the city-dwelling ant or the cockroach, there are actually ways you can get involved as a citizen scientist. As they do with bird watching, scientists rely on everyday citizens to help count insect populations, either by watching for native species or by alerting the scientific community to invasive pests. This allows them to use the “manpower of citizens on the ground to try and survey widely to see what is still being found,” Traynor says. “With very little knowledge, you can really contribute to science.” The research can assist policymakers in making more informed decisions when it comes to the conversation now and for the next 100 years. |
| 3 - There’s an App for That One popular tool used by citizen scientists around the globe is iNaturalist, an online social network for sharing biodiversity information, including information on insects. The data collected from hobbyists is then shared with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility in Denmark, a “warehouse” that scientists rely on for biodiversity research. Another digital tool for aspiring and experienced citizen scientists is the website eButterfly, which compiles information on — you guessed it — butterflies. A handful of U.S. states also track insects, such as Georgia, which runs a pollinator census. Similarly, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently asked residents to photograph and report sightings of the invasive lanternfly, which is deadly to many North American plants. |
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| | | ABOUT OZY OZY is a diverse, global and forward-looking media and entertainment company focused on “the New and the Next.” OZY creates space for fresh perspectives and offers new takes on everything from news and culture to technology, business, learning and entertainment. Welcome to the New + the Next! |
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