What Would Happen If All The Bugs Died?

Hey there and welcome to Life Noggin.
I took a visit to your human world the other day, and was surprised to see so many of these
little creepy-crawly things roaming around.
Being so tiny, they can’t have much of an impact on Earth, right?
The answer to that just might surprise you.
So, just how important are insects and what would happen if all of them died?
At first glance, it may sound like a pretty good thing.
No wasps to sting you when you go outside, no fleas to annoy our furry friends, and no
cockroaches to scare the daylight out of you…
man those things look like creepy little aliens!.
And there’s even some larger-scale benefits too.
We could say goodbye to insects that are invasive species, like gypsy moths and the asian longhorned
beetle.
No more insects should also lessen the spread of insect-spread diseases, like malaria.
According to the CDC, malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that gives a flu-like illness that,
if left untreated, can even lead to death.
They estimated that around 429,000 people died from malaria in 2015, so stopping the
spread of diseases like this could go a long way for our global health!
The benefits could also spread to our agriculture, as it would make it so that farmers would
no longer need to use insecticides to protect their crops.
Different pesticides would most likely still be used though, as there could still be other
threats to the crops, like weeds or rodents.
But without insects, there would probably be far less plants and food to protect in
the first place.
This is because around 80 percent of the plants in the world are angiosperms, which are flowering
plants.
They directly provide us nutrition in the form of foods like potatoes, beans, wheat,
and many different fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
They are also indirectly part of our plates by being commonly used to feed the animals
we farm.
While these plants can be pollinated by things like wind and other animals such as birds,
insects are often vital for their pollination.
Common insect pollinators include bees, butterflies, and beetles.
Without another way to pollinate these flowering plants, we could lose out on a pretty big
supply of food!
Losing out on insects would likely have a widespread domino effect of making it harder
for other animals to survive, which would then make it harder for us to survive.
Not just from their pollination contributions, but insects themselves are also widely apart
of the diet of animals like frogs, birds, lizards, and many more!
Adding up all the little things that insects do for the planet both directly and indirectly
could really lead us down a rabbit hole of awfulness if they all died.
That, and according to the UK’s Living With Environmental Change Partnership, the global
crop production attributable to insect pollination was estimated to be worth about $215 billion
dollars in 2005.
That’s a lot of money!
You could probably buy a couple of avocados at Whole Foods with that much dough.
Losing insects might also make it a little harder for all my aspiring Sherlock Holmes
out there.
That’s because insects are drawn to a decomposing body and may lay eggs in it.
Through the study of insects and developing larval stages, forensic scientists can estimate
how long since a person died, changes in corpse positions, and further insight into the cause
of death.
It’s super creepy to think about.
So did any of this surprise you?
Did you know such tiny things could be so important?
Let me know in the comments below!
Make sure you come back every Monday for a brand new video.
As always, I’m Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.
Don’t forget to keep on thinking!
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What Would Happen If All The Bugs Died?

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