{"id":21839,"date":"2019-02-12T02:16:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T15:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=21839"},"modified":"2019-02-12T02:16:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T15:16:27","slug":"plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=21839","title":{"rendered":"Plummeting insect numbers &#8216;threaten collapse of nature&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"420\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Insects.jpg\" alt=\"Insects\" class=\"wp-image-21840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Insects.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Insects-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The world\u2019s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a \u201ccatastrophic collapse of nature\u2019s ecosystems\u201d, according to the first global scientific review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history, with huge losses already reported in larger animals that are easier to study. But insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times. They are \u201cessential\u201d for the proper functioning of all ecosystems, the researchers say, as food for other creatures, pollinators and recyclers of nutrients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Insect population collapses have recently been reported in Germany and Puerto Rico, but the review strongly indicates the crisis is global. The researchers set out their conclusions in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper: \u201cThe [insect] trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting [on] life forms on our planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/feb\/10\/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/feb\/10\/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/feb\/10\/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world\u2019s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a \u201ccatastrophic collapse of nature\u2019s ecosystems\u201d, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=21839\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Plummeting insect numbers &#8216;threaten collapse of nature&#8217;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21841,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21839\/revisions\/21841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}