Context: Climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species and changes in agriculture and land use are causing Earth to lose probably 1% to 2% of its insects each year, as per the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences written by 56 scientists from around the globe.

Insect apocalypse

• The problem, sometimes called the insect apocalypse, is like a jigsaw puzzle.
• Insects “are absolutely the fabric by which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built.
• Two well known ones — honeybees and Monarch butterflies — best illustrate insect problems and declines.
• Honeybees have been in dramatic decline because of disease, parasites, insecticides, herbicides and lack of food.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/world-insect-population-declining-at-an-alarming-rate-say-studies/article33556059.ece?homepage=true

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