How Climate Change Can Put More Insects at Risk for Extinction

Insects perform vital roles in our environment and are crucial to the survival and stability of our biosphere. After all, over half of all known species are insects. Recent studies have allowed scientists to see that 65% of the insect populations they have examined could go extinct over the next century.

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Written By: Lily Tringali

February 6th, 2023

Humans tend to take advantage of insects and everything they do for our ecosystem. For the most part, they are commonly misconceived as terrifying pests that bite us and sneak into our houses over the summer. Take mosquitoes, for example. Most people that have experienced humid months in the South or the Northeast know how irritating their bites could be. However, mosquitos actually play an essential part in our ecosystem’s food chain.

All 3,000 species of mosquitoes are food to birds, bats, and frogs, and without these insects, many animals would go extinct. Insects do more for our ecosystem than we can comprehend. They assist with pollination, fruit and vegetable production, and they help control harmful pests. Although they do so much for our environment, it is unknown how these fragile organisms will respond to temperature variations. Dr. Kate Duffy, a former

postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon

Valley, along with other scientists, have used advanced models to conduct experiments to explore how cold blooded insects will respond to drastic temperature changes. This research has shown that 25-38 insect species could potentially face extinction over the next 50-100 years. This will heavily affect biological diversity, which is essential for health, food security, clean air, water, and human survival overall.

Previous studies have relied on how average temperatures have affected

species health to inform statistical models of climate impacts on species attributes.

However, with new factors coming into play, these models may be considered

imprecise due to the fact that very limited models properly account for fluctuations in

temperatures. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how insects will be

affected by radical temperature changes, Duffy and colleagues integrated data on how insects will perform at different temperatures with mathematical models. This is called “dynamic modeling”, which is used to specify and implement the control aspect of the system. While being an accurate approach, this is unique and not commonly used because it integrates climate projections with existing insect temperature response models to yield information about how insect populations may respond. This analysis showed that extreme temperature changes could result in 65 percent of the 38 populations studied could potentially face extinction over just the next century.

Conclusion

While humans may have built civilization, insects have completely structured the world we live in. Understanding which species may be most at risk could allow conservationists to more accurately target efforts to combat losses of diversity. Without insects, the stability of our ecosystem is in jeopardy.

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Works Cited:

-https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3231/climate-change-can-put-more-insects-at-risk-

for-extinction/

-https://www.businessinsider.com/no-more-insects-disappeared-earth-what-would-

happen-2019-8