IPB University Researcher Mentioned Many Insect Species Extinct Before Identified
The existence of insects as ecosystem buffers is now under serious threat. The most contributing factors include climate change and human activities.
IPB University Entomology Expert and Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture, Prof Damayanti Buchori emphasized that climate change and human activities have contributed greatly to the extinction of insect species, which is not yet fully known to humans.
“Climate change makes insects have to adapt. For those who can, they survive. But for those who don’t, they will go extinct,” said the Chief of Center for Transdisciplinary and Sustainability Sciences at IPB University.
However, Prof Damayanti continued, what is more worrying is the impact of human activities that massively change the landscape. “Massive land use change has caused the loss of natural habitat for many insects,” she said.
She adds, “The government recently mentioned that forests are for food and energy purposes. Does this mean there is no more place for biodiversity? This is very dangerous,” she said.
According to Prof Damayanti, many insect species are currently extinct before they have been identified. “We currently only recognize one million insect species, whereas it is estimated that the number reaches five million. Many have gone extinct before being recognized, we don’t even know,” she said.
Related to the threat of human activity, Prof Damayanti also shared research conducted by the Indonesian Entomology Association with several beekeepers.
The results of the research show indications of declining bee populations in various parts of Indonesia. More than half (57 percent) of beekeepers who became respondents claimed to have experienced an incident where the bee population of their livestock was drastically reduced or even extinct.
Abroad, this phenomenon is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which can be triggered by several factors that simultaneously affect bee populations such as: parasitic mite attacks, pesticides (especially from the neonicotinoid class), and climate change.
“In Indonesia there has never been any research on CCD, but the negative effects of neonicotinoid pesticides have been proven to be very toxic to bees,” she said.
In North America and several European countries there is already data on the decline in bee populations. This phenomenon raises concerns from various circles. It is unfortunate that Indonesia does not yet have this data.
Prof Damayanti said, baseline information related to the national bee population does not yet exist, especially when talking about wild bees (wild bees in nature). “We don’t even know the bee population in Bogor. Even without this data, we cannot confirm whether there is a decline or not,” she said. (dr) (IAAS/LAN)
