The Plight of Insect Conservation in Australia
By: Hadie Artiel
Tags: Insects, Conservation, Future

Insect conservation. Sounds ironic, trivial even, right? After all most Australians would be the first to admit to swatting at those pesky flies, mozzies and cockroaches that ruin our hot summer outings. Heck, the pest control industry is expected to explode globally over the next 8 years, is already so large that it plays a significant role in the world economy, and Australia is no exception [1]. But a common misconception that people inadvertently link is the term “pest” and “insect”. Butterflies, ladybugs and bees, not all insects are pests. Some of them are a farmer’s best friend and by extension our own! Even if the pest species mentioned earlier were completely eradicated, the fallout in the trophic chain would be huge. The sheer amount of flies and mosquitoes would cut a significant portion of larger animal species that rely on them for foods diet, and this harbours the potential to collapse the biosphere [2].

And they are vanishing at an astonishing rate: some before scientists are even able to have known they had existed at all. In Australia this sudden apparent insectdemic is amusingly linked to the fact that their existence and function taxonomically is not completely understood and hence conservation method are hindered or not properly implemented. Lack of insight into the endangered status of a species (and therefore sanctions to protect them) cannot be applied if the nature of the species itself is not even understood or if it is not known to exist! [3] Australia is a new land and has a wide variety of endemic animal species, with no shortage in the insect subset. There are simply so many new insects that aren’t found globally and not enough entomologists available to observe them all! Some innovative initiatives such as iNaturalist and NaturaList have gone some ways in improving the divide between observer and insect abundance, but there are simply too many species. Current estimates place it at around 200,000 insect species in Australia; only 62,000 have been identified so far [4]. Science is unaware of a large amount of Australia’s insect species, which makes it impossible to conserve them.

Building upon this one might ask the question: why do these unidentified or little-known species even need protection? Who do they need protection form? The answer is us. Humans. Habitat loss and threats to areas in which some of these most abundant Australian insect orders are protected such as Lepidoptera, Diptera and Cloeptera, continue to be threatened by land clearing and a lack on the part of organisations to identify which plants should or should not be removed in accordance with sanctions put in place to protect certain species: and these environments that do get removed are their homes[3]. Identifying which insects live in each ecosystem prior to land removal is not made any easier by insect size. As a much larger species humans are much less aware of depreciation in population amongst such small creatures and when they do, it is usually the largest amongst them. Australia has its own list of species, as dictated by the Commonwealth Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999, which are nationally threatened and each state lists conservation requirements for each species pertaining to its region, but this list is not comprehensive and does not account for the vast majority of insects that are not in its contents [5].

Another failing in the current taxonomic system is the level to which it goes down to. It omits subspecies and lower classifications and is prone to faults [6]. Furthermore, conservation strategies fail to understand that whilst introduced species severely threaten the conservation and flourishing of native species, once they are introduced, they integrate into the trophic system. An introduced species may take up the role of a native species after outcompeting it and removing the introduced species outright could have unforeseen consequences on the food chain. Another animal could rely on said introduced species now for food, or the introduced species could be keeping another native species or biological factor under check, in place of whatever insect it has replaced tropically. Conservation strategies seem to assume that simply removing the animal will reset the trophic chain to the exact tame state it was in prior to its introduction, but that is simply not true.

“Insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems” asserts the University of Sydney, Australia’s very own prominent entomologist and researcher Francisco Sanchez-Bayo. As previously established, it is the habitat loss that is most impactful to Australian insect populations. Farmers in Australia are increasingly implementing pesticide into their crops and this has a rollover effect on to other species who are not the pests the pesticide is supposed to be targeting [7].Pollution in Australia is everywhere. In the air, the water and on the land; over 30% of Australia’s agricultural surface is classed as “severely degraded” [8]. If humans can’t use it, then the insects that once lived there can used it either! Whist these destroyed habitats might be employed by a different insect species that might be able to survive in such conditions, the fact of the matter is that the native population that once lived there can no longer utilise it. Besides most of these highly adaptable insects, species that can live in the subsequent degraded land are also quite comfortable in human dwellings: it is likely this degraded space is creating a breeding ground for pests. Since many species of reptile, bird, mammal, and fish species, larger and “more-important” organisms, on these insects as their food source, there is a significant chance they are being impacted as well, creating, and pardon the pun, a butterfly effect.

Insect populations, unlike their larger bodied cousins have been vanishing from the surface of the planet with little notice, but with this increasing awareness of their plight, there is hope. The most disturbing part of this whole ordeal is that the state of insects of Australia and the extent of their difficulties is simply not known. A good place to start would be resolving this pressing issue. As a developed country it has a big head start into looking into this troubling reality. while we do not have a complete picture of all of the insect species in Australia. there is an abundance of historical information on where insect species are likely to be distributed collected and donated to e Australian National Insect Collection, which should form a fundamental basis for mitigating this situation in the future [9]. A large number of Australians are not even aware of the issue and increasing this is essential. It is unreasonable to expect people to take actions to conserve something, when are not even aware a problem is occurring int eh first place. Spreading awareness through media and online platforms as soon as possible is the most positive step to take to improve outcome. As mentioned previously, it is unknown how ecosystems are being affected, and the sooner it can be understood, the sooner it can be prevented.

The nature of science is to explore comprehensively how certain the results of data are, before one acts but this is time consuming and time is something that this situation does not have. In this world of rapidly fleeting flora and fauna, human beings are the most influential by-product. If anyone is going to save Australia’s unique and biodiverse insect population it has to be us, and it is to save them; from ourselves. Prevention is the best treatment and making sure that our actions as individuals is eco-friendly, and simply pausing for a moment to consider their consequences goes a long way. But is it enough? Only time will tell.

References:

1. Mark 2020, Home Pest Control Market to Eyewitness Massive Growth by 2028: Rentokil, AVON Pest Control — The Daily Philadelphian, thedailyphiladelphian.com, viewed 25 November 2020, <https://thedailyphiladelphian.com/news/251067/home-pest-control-market-to-eyewitness-massive-growth-by-2028-rentokil-avon-pest-control/>.

2. Lessard, B 2017, Let’s appreciate the humble fly, ideas.ted.com.

3. Sands, DPA 2018, ‘Important issues facing insect conservation in Australia: now and into the future’, Austral Entomology, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 150–172.

4. Taxonomy Australia n.d., Insects, Taxonomy Australia.

5. Saunders, M 2018, Australia’s threatened insects, Ecology is not a dirty word, viewed 25 November 2020, <https://ecologyisnotadirtyword.com/2018/12/11/australias-threatened-insects/>.

6. Torre-Bueno, J.R., 1937. A glossary of entomology (No. REF-595.703 TOR. CIMMYT.).

7. Sánchez-Bayo, F & Wyckhuys, KAG 2019, ‘Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers’, Biological Conservation, vol. 232, pp. 8–27.

8. Cool Australia, https://coolaustralia.org 2015, Pollution is Everywhere — Cool Australia, Cool Australia.

9. Reynolds, T & Hoffmann, A 2019, Is Australia Undergoing an Insect Armageddon? | Australasian Science Magazine, www.australasianscience.com.au, viewed 25 November 2020, <http://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-julyaugust-2019/australia-undergoing-insect-armageddon.html>.