Scientists: The Decline in Forest Insects Is ‘Hyperalarming’

The insects are disappearing from an American rainforest—and scientists say the implications are terrifying.

A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that there has been a staggering decline in biomass in Puerto Rico’s El Yunque rainforest over the last 40 years.

Sweep samples caught 4 to 8 times fewer insects and other arthropods than a previous expedition in 1977—and sticky traps on the forest floor caught up to 60 times fewer creatures. The researchers say there have been parallel declines in the numbers of frogs, lizards, and birds that eat insects, signaling that life in the rainforest is dying out from the bottom up.

“This is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read,” University of Connecticut invertebrate conservation expert David Wagner tells the Washington Post.

“The gravity of their findings and ramifications for other animals, especially vertebrates, is hyper alarming,” he says, calling the study a “real wake-up call” that the “phenomenon could be much, much bigger, and across many more ecosystems.”

El Yunque is well-protected as part of the US National Forest System, and the study’s researchers believe climate change —and increased exposure to extreme temperatures in particular—is the main cause of the steep decline in insects.

In addition to this disturbing news, there is more as researchers also found a steep decline in European insect numbers.

Edited from Newser.

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