[Annotated] Is insectageddon imminent?

Not yet. But precautions are needed^[각주:1]

"Be afraid. Be very afraid," says a character in "The Fly", a horror film about a man who turns into an enormous insect. It captures the unease and disgust people often feel for the kingdom of cockroaches, Zika-carrying mosquitoes and creepy-crawlies of all kinds. However, ecologists increasingly see the insect world as something to be frightened for, not frightened of. In the past two years scores of scientific studies have suggested that trillions of murmuring, droning^[각주:2], susurrating honeybees^[각주:3], butterflies, caddisflies^[각주:4], damselfies and beetles are dying off^[각주:5]. "If all mankind were to disappear", wrote E.O. Wilson, the doyen of^[각주:6] entomologists^[각주:7], "the world would regenerate... if insects were to vanish the environment would collapse into chaos."

We report on these studies in this week's Science section. Most describe declines of 50% and more over decades in different measures of insect health. The immediate reaction is consternation^[각주:8]. Because insects enable plants to reproduce, through pollination^[각주:9], and are food for other animals, a collapse in their numbers would be catastrophic. "The insect apocalypse is here," trumpeted the New York Times last year^[각주:10]. 

But a second look leads to a different assessment. Rather than causing a panic, the studies should act as a timely warning and a reason to take precautions. 

That is because the worst fears are unproven. Only a handful of databases record the abundance of insects over a long time - and not enough to judge long-term population trends accurately. There are no studies at all of wild insect numbers in most of the world, including China, India, the Middle East, Australia and most of South America, South-East Asia and Africa. Reliable data are too scarce to declare a global emergency. 

Moreover, where the evidence does show a collapse - in Europe and America - agricultural and rural ecosystems are holding up. Although insect-eating birds are disappearing from European farmlands, plants still grow, attract pollinators^[각주:11] and reproduce. Farm yields remain high. As some insect species die out^[각주:12], others seem to be moving into the niches^[각주:13] they have left, keeping ecosystems going, albeit^[각주:14] with less biodiversity than before^[각주:15]. It is hard to argue that insect decline is yet wrecking significant economic damage. 

But there are complications. Agricultural productivity is not the only measure of environmental health. Animals have value, independent of any direct economic contribution they may make. People rely on healthy ecosystems for everything from nutrient cycling to the local weather, and the more species make up an ecosystem the more stable it is likely to be^[각주:16]. The extinction of a few insect species among so many might not make a big difference^[각주:17]. The loss of hundreds of thousands would. 

And the scale of the observed decline raises doubts about how long ecosystems can remain resilient. An experiment in which researchers gradually plucked out insect pollinators from fields^[각주:18] found that plant diversity held up well until about 90% of insects had been removed. Then it collapsed. In Krefeld, in western Germany, the mass of aerial insects declined by more than 75% between 1989 and 2016. As one character in a novel by Ernest Hemingway says, bankruptcy came in two ways: "gradually, then suddenly". Given the paucity of data, it is impossible to know how close Europe and America are to an ecosystem collapse. But it would be reckless to find out by actually triggering one. 

Insects can be protected in two broad ways, dubbed sharing and sparing. Sharing means nudging farmers and consumers to^[각주:19] adopt^[각주:20] more organic habits^[각주:21], which do less damage to wildlife. That might have local benefits, but organic yields are often lower than intensive ones. With the world's population rising, more land would go under the plough, reducing insect diversity further. So sparing is needed, too. This means going hell for leather with every high-yield technique^[각주:22] you can think of, including insecticide^[각주:23]-reducing genetically modified organisms, and then setting some land aside for wildlife^[각주:24]. 

Insects are indicators of ecosystem health. Their decline is a warning to pay attention to it - before it really is too late. 

1. precaution ; [주로 복수로] 1. ~ (against sth) 예방책, 예방 조치[수단] ;; [NOUN] A precaution is an action that is intended to prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from happening. [본문으로]
2. drone ; [자동사] [자동사][V] 웅웅[웅얼]거리는 소리를 내다 ;; [VERB] If something drones, it makes a low, continuous, dull noise. [본문으로]
3. susurrate ; [자동사] (문어) 속삭이다 ; 바스락거리다. ;; [VERB] to make a soft rustling sound; whisper; murmur ;; [ˈsuːsʌreɪt] [본문으로]
4. caddisfly ; [명사] (곤충) 날도래 ;; [NOUN] any small mothlike insect of the order Trichoptera, having two pairs of hairy wings and aquatic larvae (caddis worms) [본문으로]
5. die off ; (결국 하나도 안 남게 될 때까지) 하나하나씩 죽어 가다 [본문으로]
6. doyen (美 주로 dean) ;; (단체의) 고참자, 원로; 수석자, 제 1 인자 ((of)) ;; [NOUN] If you refer to a man as the doyen of a group or profession, you mean that he is the oldest and most experienced and respected member of it. ;; 미국∙영국 [ˈdɔɪən] [본문으로]
7. entomologist ; [명사] 곤충학자 ;; 미국식 [èntəmɑ́lədƷist] 영국식 [-mɔ́l-] [본문으로]
8. consternation ; [U] (격식) 실망 ; 유의어 dismay ;; [[U]] 깜짝 놀람, 대경실색 (opp. composure) ;; 미국식 [ˌkɑːnstərˈn-] 영국식 [ˌkɒnstəˈneɪʃn] [본문으로]
9. pollination ; [U] (식물) 수분 (작용) [본문으로]
10. trumpet ; [타동사] 2. [비유적] …을 불어대다, 떠들어 퍼뜨리다, 소란스레 알리다(up). ;; [VERB] If someone trumpets something that they are proud of or that they think is important, they speak about it publicly in a very forceful way. [본문으로]
11. pollinator ; [명사] 꽃가루 매개자 ((곤충 등)); 꽃가루의 공급원이 되는 식물 ;; [NOUN] A pollinator is something which pollinates plants, especially a type of insect. ;; 미국식 [pɑ́lənèitər] 영국식 [pɔ́l-] [본문으로]
12. die out ; 멸종되다, 자취를 감추다 ;; 1.if a family, race, type of animal, etc. dies out, there are no longer any members left alive ;; 2.to no longer be used or practised [본문으로]
13. niche ; 1. 아주 편한[꼭 맞는] 자리[역할/일 등] ;; 2. (상업) (시장의) 틈새 ;; [NOUN] [usu with supp] A niche in the market is a specific area of marketing which has its own particular requirements, customers, and products. ;; 미국식 [nɪtʃ; niːʃ] 영국식 [niːʃ; nɪtʃ] [본문으로]
14. albeit ; [접속사] (격식) 비록 …일지라도 ;; [ADV] You use albeit to introduce a fact or comment which reduces the force or significance of what you have just said. [본문으로]
15. biodiversity (드물게 ˌbioˌlogical diˈversity) ;; [U] (균형 잡힌 환경을 위한) 생물의 다양성 ;; [NOUN] Biodiversity is the existence of a wide variety of plant and animal species living in their natural environment. [본문으로]
16. make up ; 1. ~을 이루다[형성하다] ; 유의어 constitute ; 관련 명사 make-up [본문으로]
17. make a, no, some, etc. difference (to/in somebody/something) ;; (~에) 영향이 있다, 없다, 좀 있다 등 ;; have an effect/no effect on somebody/something [본문으로]
18. pluck ; 1. …을 잡아뜯다, 따다(off); …을 쥐어뜯다, 뽑다(up, out); …을 잡아찢다(away). ;; [VERB] If you pluck a fruit, flower, or leaf, you take it between your fingers and pull it in order to remove it from its stalk where it is growing. [본문으로]
19. nudge ; 2. 〔남〕의 주의를 환기하다, 가볍게 자극하다; …을 (…하도록) 설득하다[to do, into]. ;; [VERB] If you nudge someone, you push them gently, usually with your elbow, in order to draw their attention to something. [본문으로]
20. adopt ; 2. [타동사][VN] (특정한 방식이나 자세를) 쓰다[취하다] ;; [VERB] If you adopt a new attitude, plan, or way of behaving, you begin to have it. [본문으로]
21. habit ; 2. (사회적인) 풍습, 관습. ;; 3. [U, C] 성질, 기질, 마음씨; 체질, 자질. ;; 4. [U, C] (심리) (특정 상황에 대한) 반사적 반응. [본문으로]
22. high yield ; (농업) 다수확(多收穫) ;; [형용사적] 이율이 높은, 고성능의 [본문으로]
23. insecticide ; [C, U] 살충제 ; 참조 herbicide, pesticide ;; [NOUN] Insecticide is a chemical substance that is used to kill insects. ;; 미국∙영국 [ɪnˈsektɪsaɪd] [본문으로]
24. set (sth) aside for sth ; …에 대비해서 따로 챙겨 두다. [본문으로]