‘If you had asked me this question four years ago, I would have given you a totally different answer.’ Professor David Kleijn, an ecologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, is talking about the change in people’s feelings towards insects. Traditionally, the relationship has been far from a comfortable one, but Prof. Kleijn notes signs … Read more
Pheromones that interfere with insect mating patterns, crops that are grown together with others and fields edged with wildflowers are just some of the techniques being developed by European scientists to defend crops from pests without resorting to pesticides, which have been linked to widespread insect biodiversity loss. Most crops require pesticides to grow profitably. But … Read more
Parks and green spaces in cities provide health and wellness benefits to human inhabitants, but they’re not necessarily beneficial for other urban dwellers – like insects. Researchers are investigating urban biodiversity with approaches such as ‘bee hotels’ to see how cities can better foster insect life. Green spaces now cover about 40% of cities in Europe, … Read more
Insects are vital to the health of our planet but they can also reveal a lot about climate change and help us fight future vector-borne disease outbreaks, says Alexey Solodovnikov, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who runs the rove beetle-dedicated Solodovnikov Lab and is a curator at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Dr Solodovnikov … Read more
Flying insects such as bees and moths have secret senses that allow them to ‘feel’ nearby flowers and navigate over long distances, according to new research. Armed with sensitive antennae and wide-angled compound eyes, bees have a sophisticated set of senses to help them search out pollen and nectar as they buzz from flower to … Read more