{"id":21855,"date":"2017-10-24T19:07:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T00:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themindunleashed.com\/?p=21855"},"modified":"2017-10-28T09:01:39","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T14:01:39","slug":"insect-populations-decline-82-percent-armageddon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themindunleashed.com\/2017\/10\/insect-populations-decline-82-percent-armageddon.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEcological Armageddon\u201d \u2014 Up to 82% Decline in World’s Insect Populations in 27 Years Stumps, Horrifies Researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

An<\/span> \u201cecological armageddon\u201d<\/span><\/i> has been set in motion, thanks to an extraordinary 75 percent or more decline in insect species worldwide<\/strong>, finds a new study twenty-seven years in the making \u2014 a striking development one of the researchers described as, unabashedly, <\/span>\u201cvery alarming.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the number of flying insects is decreasing at such a high rate in such a large area is an alarming discovery,\u201d<\/span><\/i> study researcher Hans de Kroon, of Raboud University, <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> The<\/span><\/i> Guardian<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the total mass of flying insects <\/span>plunging<\/b><\/a> by more than 75 percent in just over a quarter century<\/b>, \u2018very alarming\u2019<\/em> hardly pretends to describe the jaw-dropping findings. <\/span><\/p>\n

Insects play an inextricable role in the health of planetary ecosystems, providing prey for larger species and pollinating the world\u2019s agricultural crops and edible plants \u2014 so, a decisively steep decrease in their numbers prognosticates at best an austere future.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1989, dozens of amateur entomologists across Germany <\/span>began<\/span><\/a> using a strictly standardized method of collecting insects using mesh tents called malaise traps to catch 1,500 samples of all flying insects from 63 nature preserves. But, despite, the somewhat limited geographical breadth of the research, scientists warn their findings, <\/span>published<\/span><\/a> in the journal <\/span>Plos One<\/span><\/i>, apply to any area focused predominantly on agriculture. <\/span><\/p>

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