Rather have Bees than B's

Today I learned how size can affect data collected on species, how important pollinators really are to people, and how pesticides can pose a threat to certain insects. In regards to size, butterflies and bees are in major trouble. In all seriousness, it turns out smaller animals are more likely to be overlooked when conducting biodiversity studies. This is an issue when you look at what these tiny yet necessary creatures do. The blog says in the next decade we will lose over 20,000 species of plants, which could cause massive unbalance in food webs across the globe. One method of destruction that is particularly prolific in these examples is pesticides. Agricultural areas in particular can have a massive amount of deadly runoff in the events of rain or storms, which can potentially annihilate an entire population of pollinators.

Two ways this relates back to class is our study of biodiversity and the food web. Biodiversity is the measure of diversity of ecosystems,species and in this case; genes. When any amount of, say, butterflies are killed, the genes possessed by those individuals are gone forever and can't return without some form mutation or introduction of another species. Also, the food web that includes those butterflies and all the flowers they pollinate would be thrown out of whack and eventually collapse. We learned of this and how human activities can cause this to happen.

I wonder what insects are safe from pesticides? Does the mosquito spray we use at home affect all other insects? We imagine this all happening at farms, but perhaps our stuff at home is doing just as much damage.