Abstract
This book offers a current overview of the relationship between humans and insects. It discusses beneficial and harmful effects of insects and explains the evolution of their populations. Most of all, it aims to invite the readers to open their eyes to the value of these creatures: What exactly is our relationship with insects? Are they more beneficial or harmful? What role do they play in the world? How important are they for us? What are the effects of climate change: Will their numbers continue to increase due to global warming? With more than a million known species, insects are by far the largest animal class on Earth. Six-legged creatures, such as the millipedes, crustaceans, and spiders, belong to the arthropods, which represent 80 percent of all animals living on the planet. Insects dominated in the past, in fact, already more than 400 million years ago. The facts and data in this book are based on global scientific research, sometimes specified for Europe. But how have the biodiversity and population rates of insects been changing in the USA in recent decades? In this special chapter, the author elaborates on this question in different sections.
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- 1.
Wilson (1997, p. 171).
- 2.
O’Toole (2000).
- 3.
Berenbaum (2001).
- 4.
In biological systematics, species are classified as follows: Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Using the example of the housefly: Kingdom: Animals. Phylum: Arthropods. Class: Insects (Insecta). Order: Diptera. Suborder: Flies (Brachycera). Family: Stable flies (Muscidae). Genus: Musca. Species: Housefly (Musca domestica).
- 5.
- 6.
Wilson (1997, p. 257).
- 7.
Dirzo et al. (2014).
- 8.
Resh and Cardé (2009).
- 9.
IUCN (2016).
- 10.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2016).
- 11.
IUCN (2016).
- 12.
Black (2008).
- 13.
Xerces Society (2016a).
- 14.
Xerces Society (2016b).
- 15.
“Endangered species are at the brink of extinction now. Threatened species are likely to be at the brink in the near future” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2003).
- 16.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2011).
- 17.
Cameron et al. (2011).
- 18.
Ellis et al. (2010).
- 19.
Brower et al. (2011).
- 20.
Berenbaum (2008a).
- 21.
Xerces Society (2016b).
- 22.
Dirzo et al. (2014).
- 23.
Endangered Species International (2011).
- 24.
Xerces Society (2016b).
- 25.
Fleshler (2012).
- 26.
Greenpeace (2016).
- 27.
Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America (2007).
- 28.
Ecological Association of America (2016).
- 29.
Fleshler (2012).
- 30.
Berenbaum (2008b).
- 31.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2016).
- 32.
Bossart and Carlton (2002).
- 33.
Nebel et al. (2010).
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Reckhaus, HD. (2017). Introduction. In: Why Every Fly Counts. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58765-3_1
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