According to a study published in 2017, the average annual number of flying insects in Germany decreased by 80% over the past 27 years. These figures, similar in all countries where the original study has been repeated, mean that we are facing an annual loss of 6%, which, for the scientific community, evokes words like chaos and apocalypse.
“Ecosystems cannot function without insects,” says Rachel Warren, an entomologist at the University of East Anglia (England). While many insects disappear, a few explore new habitats.
In Great Britain, over the last decade there have been drastic changes in the distribution of some types of dragonflies, and even the appearance of new species, adapted to more temperate climates. Dragonfly experts say that their ability to vary their habitat, coupled with the fact that part of their life cycle takes place in fresh water – their larvae are aquatic – makes them key indicators to study the effects of climate change.
Change or die
It is an opinion shared by researchers at Macquarie University, in Sydney (Australia), who in early 2018 showed that the genetics of insects known as damselflies ( Ischnura elegans ) change as individuals alter their range of distribution.
“Like other aquatic insects, they face a dilemma given the current rate of global warming,” explains Rachael Dudaniec, lead author of the study. Our research suggests that they have a large number of evolutionary strategies available to adapt to a changing climate, but this is not the case for all species. “
