Insects can be some of the most annoying creatures on earth. No one enjoys the feeling of an ant crawling up on them, or scratching a mosquito bite.
In our previous blog posts & videos we’ve talked about how mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures in the world, spreading malaria and other deadly diseases via blood transmission.
Other insects such as wasps & bees sting us, killing some via allergic reaction. A few unlucky humans have met an unfortunate death by Africanized killer bees that have chased them down for miles.
Clearly insects aren’t the most pleasant of creatures to co-exist with. So what would happen if we deleted them all from the face of the Earth?
Unfortunately for us, the cons far outweigh the pros. It would be unwise to delete insects from Earth.
Sure, no more mosquito bites and no more pests in the home would be nice. But it’s highly probable modern civilization would fall apart as a result of “deleting insects from Earth.”
By the way our video version of this post is awesome. Check it out HERE.
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Plants
Most people don’t know this but 80% of the world’s plant life is called angiosperms, otherwise known as flowering plants. This means that male sperm from one plant must be transferred to a female plant- the problem of course being that plants can’t move and do this on their own!
The majority of pollination is done by insects including bees, butterflies, beetles, and flies.
This would create a very negative chain effect that would devastate humanity and likely bring about a post-apocalyptic world- and unfortunately these are not extremely claims.
With plants unable to easily reproduce, we wouldn’t live in a non-leafy world. The effects reach much farther than that.
Between 50 to 90 percent of the human diet (depending on country) comes directly from flowering plants. Angiosperms include gains like rice and wheat, as well as fruits and vegetables.
Suddenly everyone would face a massive food shortage problem as 50%+ of each country’s food supply instantly disappears. It doesn’t stop there.
Meat
So what, maybe you don’t like vegetables and are a big meat eater. How would this affect you?
Well most other animals are directly related to angiosperms in that they eat angiosperms for survival.
It’s not that you would just have to give up fruits, vegetables, rice, and wheat related products. Suddenly the animals that ate these products for survival would die off as well!
With no plants to eat, these animals would starve- we suddenly wouldn’t be able to eat these animals either.
Birds & other Animals
The disruption of the ecosystem continues. Several types of animals primarily eat insects, or it’s a key part of their diet. Without insects for these animals to eat (such as birds) their populations would quickly diminish or go extinct, further breaking the balance of our current ecosystem.
As you can see humanity would experience a massive food shortage. Wars would likely break out as people fight to death over the remaining resources!
Dead Stuff
Not only would humanity suffer a massive starvation problem, dead things would decompose at a much slower rate because insects wouldn’t be cleaning up the dead stuff!
Dead bodies, dead trees, and other dead things would hang around much longer than they currently do. This dead stuff existing would prevent new life from taking their place.
Disease could become more dangerous as well because only micro-organisms would remain to take care of the decomposition. The decomposition process would take longer meaning that more micro-organisms could grow to eat the dead things- but more micro-organisms also means an increased chance of disease spreading, especially if there are more dead things everywhere.
Eradication of Life?
Some scientists believe that all life would cease to exist on Earth within 50 years of insects disappearing.
We don’t necessarily agree with that because there are other plants that exist that aren’t angiosperms that survive simply via their own reproductive methods. It’s likely that life would bounce back somehow.
However the modern world as we know it would almost certainly disappear following the extinction of all insects.
The chain effects created by the eradication of insects would make extinct many animals and cause a massive food shortage. The world as we know it would break down due to the massive hunger and competition for remaining resources!
Summary
Believe it or not your life is highly dependent on insects. Despite some of them killing tons of people every year via diseases like malaria, and eating through our current food supplies, they are surprisingly necessary for us to thrive. Without insects a lot of bad could happen.
Now we’re not saying NOT to kill that pesky mosquito- just kill it with a little compassion.
Got Pests?
We may have to deal with annoying pests & insects in nature and outside, but that doesn’t mean you should have to deal with them inside of your home or around your home!
If you have a pest or animal related problem, call us now at 855-WILDLIFE or visit www.wildlifexteam.com for more information. Let’s get rid of those pests for you!
-Wildlife x Team International