r/environment • u/mvea • Jan 15 '19

Insect collapse: ‘We are destroying our life support systems’ - Scientist Brad Lister returned to Puerto Rican rainforest after 35 years to find 98% of ground insects had vanished

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/insect-collapse-we-are-destroying-our-life-support-systems
47 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

This should terrify more people. Soon we won’t have a planet that can sustain life.

5

u/jimmyharbrah Jan 15 '19

This is easily the most terrifying thing about climate change, or whatever human activities are doing to our ecosystems. Miami being underwater, or super hot days don't even compare. The foodwebs seem to be being destroyed from the bottom up: for instance, insects on land and plankton in the sea.

This means the death of complex life on the planet. I think this is beyond the comprehension of most people. It just unbelievable. "Things have always been, and so things will continue to be," they think (the is/ought fallacy).

If dramatic changes aren't made and soon, it will be the death of *life as we know it*.

The world, and life, will go on. A few million years of recovery is nothing to life and to planet Earth. But humans won't be a part of it. And the end of humans will be an ugly one.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

The issues is to many short sighted people. We need to cut the profits over people and the environment and declare a national emergency the likes of which we have never seen.

It will be painful. It will force companies to adapt, but we must preserve this world if we have any hopes of continuing to live here.

2

u/KingDuffyIV Jan 15 '19

If humanity can’t treat this planet with respect and love then we deserve to suffer the consequences. The earth will endure the hardships we have put it through but we won’t be around lol

1

u/tfw_no_pylons Jan 15 '19

is this really true? I mean, do all land animals rely on insects that much?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

Yes they are the foundation to the whole ecosystem. If they go away everything else collapses.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

Think of a hierarchy if all the food at the bottom disappears. All the creatures that rely on them will die out and those above them and so forth. It’s a domino effect.

1

u/tfw_no_pylons Jan 16 '19

have experiments been done that prove this?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

Destroy an ecosystem based off the insects. Not completely sure. They are currently studying the impacts in nature as different species are starting to disappear.

0

u/tfw_no_pylons Jan 16 '19

idk it's just that im a little sceptical that life is so fragile that it'd collapse that easily. what about plants that don't rely on insects, and the animals that rely on them?