Is there really a need for insects to exist?

[Foto]

Honestly think that's the dumbest question I've ever read on the forums here... of course they have a reason to exist, its the entire food chain.
Not to mention did you not watch "The Lion King" when you were younger?

"Mufasa: Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance.
As king, you need to understand that balance and respect all the creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope.

Simba: But Dad, don't we eat the antelope?

Mufasa: Yes, Simba, but let me explain: When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass.
And so we are all connnected in the great Circle of Life."

[Deleted]

Remove all humans and the planet flourishes within and beyond 50 years. Remove all insects and the planet dies within 50 years.

Insects are far more important to the world than we are.

[Reeve]

If you were able to remove one thing on earth and it turn to be a positive for the planet.... it would be humans

What does that even mean? Like what is good or bad for the planet? The planet doesn't care at all. When we're talking about what's good or bad for the planet, generally speaking we're talking about the context in which life would be most comfortable for humans. Because the planet's going to go on being here long after we're gone, and it will never have noticed our passing.

---------- Post added 2013-05-28 at 02:21 AM ----------

Remove all humans and the planet flourishes within and beyond 50 years. Remove all insects and the planet dies within 50 years.

Insects are far more important to the world than we are.

The planet doesn't die. The planet can't die because it's not alive. We've had some seriously massive species die-offs in the past, and Earth is still here, and still full of organisms.

[Csnyder]

they have the right to exist, just as you have the right to post stupid threads

[GennGreymane]

if we can replace them with nice robots that dont try to sting me every 15 minutes that be great.

[Nillah]

Unfortunately there are plenty of reasons.

Doesn't mean we have to like them, though.

[Nanaboostme]

everything has a reason to be here.... except mosquitos. they offer nothing to the world, and live only to cause strife and aggravation. even spiders have more use than mosquitos.

if youre talking about humans exclusively (although it was recently found one certain type of mosquito can cure malaria, we just havent been able to exploit them yet), excluding them many species of mosquitos are vital for other species like food source etc. dont forget theres 3000 types of mosquitos, and only a few hundred bother or bite humans

"They live on almost every continent and habitat, and serve important functions in numerous ecosystems. "Mosquitoes have been on Earth for more than 100 million years," says Murphy, "and they have co-evolved with so many species along the way." Wiping out a species of mosquito could leave a predator without prey, or a plant without a pollinator. And exploring a world without mosquitoes is more than an exercise in imagination: intense efforts are under way to develop methods that might rid the world of the most pernicious, disease-carrying species"

[Gheld]

June bugs should all be eradicated. There is no purpose to them, except to creep me out.

[ebah]

Mosquitos could go extinction...

[Mithfin]

I was shocked that anyone suggested this. Dear god a world without insects, we'd have a lot of problems.

Nope. We would be dead, and dead people usually have no problems.

[xylophone]

Is there really a need for humans to exist?

If humans weren't here there would be no one to save the whales. Check and mate.

[Deleted]

Well other animals have to eat aswell.

[xylophone]

Also, bugs =/= insects... it's a pet peeve of mine Waiting to see someone use them interchangeable and me need a lie down.

All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs.

[Deleted]

no we need them, insects are the basis of our ecosystem

[LeginNoslen]

Iv said it before and Ill say it again, stay in school kids, you just might learn something.

[Phlegethon]

I cant seem to come up with any reason for insects other than for a food source. Anything that eats insects could just eat something else if they didnt exist. I see no good reason for them to exist as all they do is annoy us. They make our cars dirty, sneak into our homes, destroy our crops, spread diseases, poison us if they are toxic, and are generally an annoyance as they buzz past our ears and fly into our eyes. Why cant we just eradicate all insects? All we would have to do is spray for them like they do near rivers for mosquitos and black flies. They could spray everywhere for all bugs and eliminate them once and for all.

Herp. Derp.

Is this trolling or a real question?

[Algernon]

I cant seem to come up with any reason for insects other than for a food source. Anything that eats insects could just eat something else if they didnt exist. I see no good reason for them to exist as all they do is annoy us. They make our cars dirty, sneak into our homes, destroy our crops, spread diseases, poison us if they are toxic, and are generally an annoyance as they buzz past our ears and fly into our eyes. Why cant we just eradicate all insects? All we would have to do is spray for them like they do near rivers for mosquitos and black flies. They could spray everywhere for all bugs and eliminate them once and for all.

If all insects were to go extinct, life as we know it whould end. Edward Osborne Wilson, a world-renowned Harvard biologist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, made a list of what happen if insects disappeared from the Earth:

• A majority of the flowering plants, upon being deprived of their pollinators, cease to reproduce.

• Most herbaceous plant species among them spiral down to extinction. Insect-pollinated shrubs and trees hang on for a more years, in rare cases up to a few centuries.

• The great majority of birds and other land vertebrates, now denied the special foliage, fruits, and insect prey on which they feed, follow the plants into oblivion.

• The soil remains largely unturned, accelerating plant decline, because insects, not earthworms as generally supposed, are the principal turners and renewers of the soil.

• Populations of fungi and bacteria explode and remain at a peak over a few years while metabolizing the dead plant and animal material that builds up.

• Wind-pollinated grasses and a handful of fern and conifer species spread over much of the deforested terrains, then decline as the soil deteriorates.

• The human species survives, able to fall back on wind-pollinated grains and marine fishing. But... human populations plunge to a small fraction of their former level. Wars to control the dwindling resources, suffering, and the tumultuous decline to dark-age barbarism would be unprecedented in human history.

“if all insects on Earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on
Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth,
within 50 years all forms of life would flourish.”

- Biologist Jonas Salk

[DarkTZeratul]

“if all insects on Earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on
Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth,
within 50 years all forms of life would flourish.”

- Biologist Jonas Salk

Having seen this quote a few times in this thread, I have to say that I take issue with it. You can't compare eradicating a single species to eradicating an entire class; it's as ridiculous as the OP's argument that nothing bad happened when the dodo went extinct. The correct comparison would be if all mammals disappeared, in which case the ecosystem would be proper fucked.

[draganid]

Having seen this quote a few times in this thread, I have to say that I take issue with it. You can't compare eradicating a single species to eradicating an entire class; it's as ridiculous as the OP's argument that nothing bad happened when the dodo went extinct. The correct comparison would be if all mammals disappeared, in which case the ecosystem would be proper fucked.

it would recover a whole lot better without mammals than without insects. pretty sure birds would fill the void, just as mammals filled the void after the dinosaurs went extinct.

[DarkTZeratul]

it would recover a whole lot better without mammals than without insects. pretty sure birds would fill the void, just as mammals filled the void after the dinosaurs went extinct.

Dinosaurs were still just a clade of the reptile class.