Insects have less food in the last 100 years — study
A new study showed for the first time that the diversity of food plants for insects has declined sharply over the past 100 years. This means that bees, flies and butterflies are increasingly losing their food supply.
The new work of scientists also speaks of a general decrease in food plants for all types of insects in Switzerland. The homogenization of the initially diverse landscape has led to the extinction of many habitats, especially wetlands, which have declined by about 90%. Settlements grew more and more due to cultivated land, and the development of grazing and arable farming led to the widespread depletion of meadows and arable habitats.
To obtain these data, the researchers compared the abundance of food plants of various groups of insects for the period from 2012 to 2017, with estimates based on data from 1900 to 1930 in the canton of Zurich.
Almost all plant communities have become much more uniform, with several dominant species. “It's hard for us to imagine what the vegetation looked like 100 years ago,” says Dr. Michael Kessler, one of the authors. “But our data show that about half of all species have a significant decrease in numbers, while only 10% of the species have increased.”
The new work of scientists also speaks of a general decrease in food plants for all types of insects in Switzerland. The homogenization of the initially diverse landscape has led to the extinction of many habitats, especially wetlands, which have declined by about 90%. Settlements grew more and more due to cultivated land, and the development of grazing and arable farming led to the widespread depletion of meadows and arable habitats.
To obtain these data, the researchers compared the abundance of food plants of various groups of insects for the period from 2012 to 2017, with estimates based on data from 1900 to 1930 in the canton of Zurich.
Almost all plant communities have become much more uniform, with several dominant species. “It's hard for us to imagine what the vegetation looked like 100 years ago,” says Dr. Michael Kessler, one of the authors. “But our data show that about half of all species have a significant decrease in numbers, while only 10% of the species have increased.”
