Insects are vital for the health of our planet. But their populations are declining all around the world. This insect decline threatens the ecosystems around us and our own health. But with a few simple steps, we can all help reverse this decline, starting in our own backyard.

Why We Need Insects

Our Food & Our Health

Did you know that around 75% of crop species benefit from insect pollination? This includes your daily staples like coffee, nuts and many fruits and vegetables. Insect pollination can increase the food production of crops by 18-71% and increase food quality.

Losing pollinators will reduce the variety and amount of food we have. Beyond this, declines in pollinators can lead to “hidden hunger”, which is a global problem of micronutrient deficiency. Because the crops we rely on for these micronutrients also rely on pollinators.

Insects don’t only help grow our food; they are also allies in protecting it. Only around 1% of insects are true pests. The other 99% are helpful, like ladybugs and lacewings, which are natural pest control for agricultural systems. They help by controlling the pest’s insect populations from the aphids on your favourite rose to your apple trees. These natural pests reduce the need for dangerous chemicals in our gardens and on our farms.

A Personal Connection

There are many benefits to being out in nature interacting with the environment, especially for children. Scientific papers show that when children have nature play, especially with activities engaging with insects, it advances children’s physical and mental health, sleep, resilience and learning outcomes.

Making insect houses and bug-friendly environments has many benefits for children. Some of these are boosting curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, and environmental stewardship in young children.

Imagine sitting, drinking an iced tea in summer outside on your deck. With bees and butterflies fluttering around from your dahlias to roses. This is what happens when you plant a garden that is diverse and abundant with insect-friendly plants. It brings the natural beauty of nature to your front doorstep to enjoy. When there are more gardens and water spaces in urban environments, this increases the well-being and satisfaction for residents.

Supporting insects gives you a positive attitude towards them, which creates a sense of urgency to help with conservation efforts. This also leads to greater community action and increases awareness of their ecological impact.

Why Insect Health Matters to Animals and the Environment

Feeding the Wildlife

Insects are a crucial food source for animals, including birds, fish, frogs, and mammals. They directly supply essential nutrients and energy to these creatures, which helps stabilise food chains and maintain biodiversity. When insect populations decline, it triggers a domino effect that impacts nearly all life, disrupting entire food webs and animal communities.

Keeping Our Planet Clean

Healthy Soil: Nature’s Farmers

Insects that live in the soil are like tiny gardeners. They make the soil healthy by creating air pockets, which helps water soak in and allows plant roots to grow. As they move through the soil, they also break down dead leaves and other organic matter, returning important nutrients to the soil. This process helps create rich, fertile soil that supports strong plants and ecosystems.

When pollution harms these insects, the soil can lose its structure and become less fertile, which negatively impacts our farms and environment.

Clean Water: The World’s Water Filters

Aquatic insects are essential for keeping our rivers, lakes, and streams clean. They act as natural filters by breaking down dead leaves and other organic material in the water. They also play a key role in connecting life in the water to life on land, helping to regulate the flow of energy.

Some insects are even being studied for their ability to break down plastic and other waste, showing how important they are for keeping our water clean.

Nature’s Decomposers: The Cleanup Crew

You might not know it, but insects like beetles, flies, ants, and termites are a vital cleanup crew. They break down dead animals, plants, and other organic waste, returning crucial nutrients to the soil for plants to use again.

For example, dung beetles bury waste, which helps recycle nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus back into the soil, and termites use special microbes in their gut to break down wood. Without these insect decomposers, our soil would lose essential nutrients, impacting the plants and crops we all depend on.

The Problem: Why Insects Are Declining

The Disappearing Home

Wild Lands to Empty Fields

Habitat loss from agriculture, forestry, urbanisation, and mining are primary reasons for insect decline. These activities either remove or change habitats, which eliminates crucial food sources.

For instance, modern agriculture and forestry often create monocultures—plant communities of only one type. This removes the diversity of plants that many insects, especially specialist species, depend on for food. As a result, when a specific plant species is lost, the insects that pollinate it also lose their food source and habitat.

An example of this was seen in Singapore. The loss of 208 plant species led to the co-extinction of 56 specialist butterfly species. This demonstrates how a single change in the environment can trigger a ripple effect, putting the most vulnerable insect species at high risk of extinction.

Losing Natures Engineers

The plants that insects depend on are often called ecosystem engineers because they provide a wide range of essential services to other organisms. They offer shelter, camouflage, nests, shade, food, and protection.

When deforestation occurs and forests are cleared for cities, insects lose these vital habitats. This lack of hiding places leaves them exposed to predators, particularly birds, which can lead to a rapid decline in their populations and cause a loss of species.

The Domino Effect of Insect Decline

Habitat fragmentation occurs when large habitats are broken into smaller, isolated patches, creating “forest islands.” This makes it hard for insects to move between areas, especially when they need to adapt to climate change. As a result, these isolated patches can only support very small insect populations.

For insects higher up the food chain, habitat fragmentation is even more damaging because they lose their food sources first. This can trigger a domino effect of extinction that moves down the food chain.

You can see the effects of habitat change much later; this is called “extinction debt.” This happened with butterfly populations, where their decline was a delayed result of agricultural intensification that occurred 40 years prior.

Poisoning Our Allies

Pollution is a cause of insect decline found in 25% of all studies on insect decline.

The Dangers of Insecticides

Insecticides are not specific; they kill all insects they encounter, not just pests. This means they kill beneficial species, such as those crucial for pollination.

The use of these poisons has led to a decline in the growth and reproduction of wild bee and bumblebee populations. Additionally, insecticides can bioaccumulate, or build up over time, in the food web. This process means that losing one species can cause a domino effect, leading to the loss of many others as the poison spreads from prey to predator.

Your Weeds, Their Lifeline

Herbicides kill plants that people consider weeds, but for many insects, these plants are a critical food source. When the plants die, there’s less food and fewer places for insects to live. One study found that using herbicides caused a drop in the number of pollinators like bees, as well as plant-eating insects and the bugs that prey on them.

Hidden Toxins

Some chemicals used to treat worms in livestock harm dung beetles. The decline of the dung beetles changes the ecosystem services they provide, of nutrient cycling and plant pollination.

A Deadly Glow

Light pollution from artificial light at night affects insects’ cognition, hormone levels, survival and attracts them. This leads to changes in predation and pollination, which can lead to extinctions.

The Triple Threat: Climate, Exploitation & Invasion

Disrupting Natures Timelines

Climate change is changing the life event timing of animals and plants (phenology). This makes a mismatch between when insects need plants for food and the time the plants flower. Species can also move towards the poles to new environments because of climate change. This creates differences in time and space, which change interactions between species.

Many insects need beneficial bacteria and fungi for survival or protection. But because of increased temperatures, the bacteria and fungi are more sensitive than the insect host.

Pests, Pets and Profits

Overexploitation has affected a beetle (Sclerostomulus nitidus) that lives on one mountain in Chile. People have illegally collected it for the pet trade and for insect collectors, which resulted in a 93% population decline over five years.

Edible insects have a large commercial value. For example, the ant Liometopum apiculatum, which people find in the USA and Mexico, sells for as much as $200 USD/kg, leading to the species’ decline.

Intruders in the Ecosystem

Invasive species may outcompete native species through competition, predation and bringing diseases. Invasive species can also change insects’ behaviour, like avoiding predators. We can see this in freshwater environments in New Zealand. In streams where galaxiids (native freshwater fish) are present, caddisflies (freshwater invertebrates) do not change their behaviour. But in streams where trout (an introduced species) are present, the caddisflies try to hide.

Invasive species can disrupt the insect community by changing the food chain. For example, invasive plants can outcompete the native plants that insects rely on for food. Ultimately, these species can alter the entire local ecosystem, from the land to the water.

A Call to Action: How You Can Help

Your Own Backyard Sanctuary

Create an insect-friendly garden by planting many native flowering plants. This is so the native insects, which have evolved to pollinate these plants, will have food and shelter. Plant many different flowering species, so food is available throughout the year for insects.

For New Zealand, a few flowering plant species you could plant are Harakeke, Pōhutukawa & Rātā, Mānuka, Koromiko, and Tī kōuka.

Leave a part of your lawn or your grass verge to grow into a wildflower garden. Tall grass and wildflowers help moths, butterflies, and beetles thrive.  Delay your Autumn cleanup, because overwintering insects like native butterflies and bees shelter in leaf litter, hollow stems and plant material. This is so they can protect themselves from the cold winter and come back out in spring. Also, leaving leaf litter and rotting wood in your garden becomes a home for beetles, larvae and other native insects.

Create small water reservoirs for insects. Start by placing a shallow dish either on the ground or up on a table near flowers. Then, add some small stones and pebbles so insects can land and drink safely without drowning. Especially in summer, make sure you top up the water, keep it clean, and put it in a cool place to reduce algal growth.

Have a look at my blog post on how to create a bee-friendly garden for more ideas!!

Garden the Natural Way

Switch to natural pesticides like neem oil, which has shown no effect on non-target pollinators.

Start using practices such as integrated pest management, which focuses on preventing pests in the first place and using natural solutions to pest control rather than chemicals. Or start implementing regenerative agriculture practices, no matter how much space you have.

Support your local farmers who use sustainable practices like regenerative agriculture. The focus is on encouraging beneficial pollinators rather than killing the pests. Read my blog post on regenerative agriculture to learn more.

Become an Advocate for Insects

Everyone should know about why insects are so important for us and the health of our families and our planet. So spread the word, have chats with friends and family about what you have learnt from this blog post or refer them to it so they can have a read.

Support local conservation efforts and organisations that work to protect pollinators’ natural habitat. If your garden club uses toxic herbicides and pesticides, have a conversation and see what you can do to change those practices.

Support policies and initiatives that reduce pesticide usage and protect natural spaces. So, our pollinators can thrive for years to come.

Thanks for Reading

The fate of our planet’s tiniest helpers is in our hands. Every native flower you plant, every pesticide you avoid, and every conversation you have makes a difference. Leave a comment below, committing to the first thing you will do to help an insect today!

Georgia xo