Wild Insect Community Welfare and Ecosystem Services

Wild insect communities provide critical ecosystem services that support the welfare of countless other species, and their decline represents a cascading welfare crisis.

Key Facts

Insects perform 80% of flowering plant pollination essential for food production
Flying insect biomass has declined 75% in 27 years in European nature reserves
Insect larval communities are the primary food source for most freshwater fish species
Insect decline is linked to pesticide use, habitat loss, light pollution, and climate change
River invertebrate monitoring provides sensitive early warning indicators of watershed health

Welfare Considerations

Insect community welfare extends far beyond the question of whether individual insects have experiences that matter. The functional role of insects in food webs means that their decline directly reduces welfare conditions for birds, fish, bats, and other insectivorous animals. A stream with degraded invertebrate communities cannot support the fish that depend on them. A farmland with no insects cannot support the barn swallows and flycatchers that have coevolved with it. Protecting insect communities is therefore an investment in the welfare of the broader ecological community that depends on them.

What You Can Do

Reduce pesticide use to protect insect communities in your area
Plant native flowering plants that support diverse insect communities
Reduce artificial light pollution that disrupts nocturnal insect behavior and navigation
Participate in insect monitoring programs to contribute to tracking recovery or decline
Support policy changes restricting pesticide uses most harmful to insect communities