Bugged: Earth's land insects are disappearing

Washington: The world's ants, bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, fireflies and other land-dwelling insects have been suffering population drops of about 9 per cent per decade but freshwater bugs such as dragonflies and mosquitoes have been rallying, researchers say in a new study.

An insect flies next to a flower in Erfurt, Germany.

The findings, based on 166 sets of data covering 1676 sites in 41 countries dating as far back as 1925, provided a nuanced assessment for insects, the most ubiquitous and diverse animals on the planet.

Insects such as mosquitoes - which live in the water as larvae - as well as midges, mayflies, water beetles and caddisflies that spend at least part of their lives in freshwater were found to have experienced a population increase of about 11 per cent per decade.

Freshwater covers only about 2.5 per cent of the Earth's surface, so the vast majority of insects live on land.

Read the story from The Age  by Will Dunham - “Bugged: Earth's land insects are disappearing.”