Monday, February 11, 2019

Insects are dying off at record rates — an ominous sign we're in the middle of a 6th mass extinction -Martina D’Orso

          Insects, an animal most look at with annoyance or disgust, the last thing we would think could propel us into the 6th mass extintion, is dying. Every year, almost 2.5% of all insects are dying. Now, this may not seem like a big problem to most, but if this keeps happening then by 2119 we will not have insects anymore. 41% of insects are in decline and 31% are threatened, the rate of extintion therefore is 8 times more rapid than that of mammals, birds, and reptiles. Insects are very important in many undetected ways. For example, they are pollinators, without them we would not have plants for food, and we would lose many other precious things as a chain effect to that.
          This article was written on February 11 by Aylin Woodward. Previously, I had known about this topic, but I had not known the severity of the situation and how so much could be at stake from some insects. We can compare this, almost, to the other 5 mass extinctions where most species were annihalated. However, the way those extinctions differ from these is the fact that they were caused by natural occurences. Ours, on the contrary, is being caused by humans and our general negligence to the planet we live on.
https://www.businessinsider.com/insects-dying-off-sign-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-2

3 comments:

  1. This is a really important subject, insects are needed for many things in today’s world. If they go extinct then many food chains will be disrupted and chaos will occur~ Stephannie Hernandez

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  2. It is honestly quite disturbing that insects at the bottom of the food chain are starting to disappear, throwing the natural balance off.

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  3. The absence of insects could turn our world upside down. What are we doing to prevent this?

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