AI Insight
Insects, comprising at least 14 million species on Earth, provide crucial ecosystem services that extend far beyond their role as a food source for other animals. Well-documented services include pollination of wildflowers and crops by bees and hoverflies, and decomposition of organic waste by dung beetles. The article highlights that insects support animal life through diverse mechanisms including habitat creation and health maintenance that remain less recognized than their traditional ecological roles.
Why it matters
Understanding the full range of insect ecosystem services is essential for conservation efforts and maintaining biodiversity. Recognition of these hidden contributions could inform better land management practices and policies aimed at protecting insect populations that are currently declining globally.
Understand the Science
There are at least 14 million insect species on Earth, and they play highly diverse roles in sustaining the natural world. Insects provide many well-known benefits—what scientists often call “ecosystem services.” For example, you can thank a bee or a hoverfly for pollinating wildflowers and agricultural crops, or credit dung beetles for decomposing manure and other waste materials.
Source: The hidden ways insects support animal life—from habitat to health—go way beyond being food