Climate change may kill 65 percent of insects on Earth, says a study

Insects may be a bothersome nuisance most of the time, but the entire Phylum Arthropoda—a scientific word used to categorize the creatures—is essential to maintaining the delicate balance of life on Earth. Despite physically sucking human blood, they pollinate crops and aid in food production. Our continued presence on the blue planet is entirely due to insects.

However, issues brought on by man-made changes like climate change affect insects as well as humans. According to a recent study, climate change may lead to the extinction of 65% of the investigated insects.

“We needed a modeling tool to understand how insects populations will be affected by variations in temperature”

The research was released in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change. “Climate-mediated alterations in temperature fluctuations boost extinction risk,” reads the study’s title. According to the study, 65% of the 38 bug species that were examined will be at an increased risk of extinction in the next 50 to 100 years as a result of climate change.

Since they are unable to adjust their body temperature to match changes in the outside temperature, cold-blooded insects are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. The study has been funded by the US Department of Defense.

“We needed a modeling tool to understand how insect populations will be affected by variations in temperature,” said  Dr. Kate Duffy, a former postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Centre. “And that’s what we aimed to offer with this study: a more direct and accurate way for scientists to understand this dynamic,” she added.

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