Is there really a need for insects to exist?

[RenegadeXan]

Someone clearly does not understand how an ecosystem works.

[Itisamuh]

I'd love a world where insects and other kinds of bugs didn't exist, and the things that rely on them for food or pollination simply didn't need them any longer, but it's just not the case. I'm not sure what kind of answers you were expecting, if not these rude responses stating the obvious.

[ultimar235]

The food chain... Doesn't work like that...
And then there's the laws of thermodynamics you're forgetting.

Food chain doesn't work that way? The meteor killed almost everything yet here we are today still in a diverse world so something must have worked.

How am i forgetting thermodynamics? If you magically take out insects yes there's a problem but if they all die and are free food for everything else then where's the violation?

[Reeve]

On the contrary, bugs (heteroptera, or so called "true bugs") are an order of insects. People commonly use term bug to label most of terrestrial arthropods, although it is vastly inaccurate.

Ok so "true bugs" are insects, but in ordinary parlance, "bugs" are any terrestrial arthropod whether or not they are insects. As I am not an entymologist, I will continue to use the term in the way that it is understood by 99% of the populace, since that's how language works.

Besides, it was how I was taught bug vs. insect in elementary school.

[Simulacrum]

I think people are being over dramatic.

People are forgetting that insects consume energy and with them gone all that energy is now free for everything else to consume. Over time things will 'evolve' and balance out. Yeah some animals will suffer and others will thrive and world will change but it will not end. Earth got hit by a smegging meteor/comet and there's still life. I don't think loosing insects = total destruction of world.

You can manually pollinate plants btw it's not a magic trick insects do.

You forget to mention the part where your "over time" means much longer than it will take for the entire planet's ecosystem to collapse and most things to die, including most humans, and certainly the end of civilization.

[Deleted]

OP needs to read some biology.

[Deleted]

I once read that if all vertebrates died, life would continue on but if all insects died, almost all life would be destroyed.

Kinda sluggish wording, but you get the idea.

[Stir]

Food chain doesn't work that way? The meteor killed almost everything yet here we are today still in a diverse world so something must have worked.

Insects weren't that affected by that particular mass extinction, and it was their survival that allowed the more stricken creatures to survive as well.

How am i forgetting thermodynamics? If you magically take out insects yes there's a problem but if they all die and are free food for everything else then where's the violation?

The violation lies with the implication that insects destroy energy by consuming it.

[xylophone]

You have that backwards.

I guess it depends if we're talking in formal or informal terms.

[lockedout]

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.

Lets just spray toxic chemicals everywhere to kill all the insects so all our plants die, good idea.

[Skarssen]

Is there really a need for humans to exist?

A far better question that the OP.

---------- Post added 2013-05-28 at 02:03 PM ----------

Earth got hit by a smegging meteor/comet and there's still life

And ~90% of all species alive at the time were wiped out.

I don't think loosing insects = total destruction of world

Destruction of the planet itself, of course not, but destruction of the biosphere and our way of life, absolutely.

[Neetz]

OP, everything you just said is so selfish, ignorant and completely stupid. I''m sorry but.

I give up

[Razorice]

Pretty much everything in our world is connected. remove one specie and the whole balance might go to shit. (Apart from Humans, because let's face it - we're not doing anything good for this planet)

[Veyne]

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.

Over 95% of the living species on this planet are insects. And that's just counting the species individually. Counting all the insects individually, insects make up for probably well over 99.99999999999999(continued)% of all life on this planet are insects.

Face the facts, dude. This is an insect planet. Pretty much every one of your points can be said for any animal, including ourselves.

Any attempt to eradicate all insects from this planet would be incredibly impossible.

Besides, Some insects are incredibly vital to our lives. For instance. Bees. If I need to tell you why, then you probably shouldn't be thinking about eradicating insects.

[Deleted]

Insects are crucial for the flora, like how flora is crucial for animals etc

it is a sophisticated yet fascinating element of nature

[Vargur]

Tbh the anophele mosquito can be exterminated with extreme prejudice. Won't harm the ecosystem.

[Deleted]

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.

Way to be picky. If it makes you happy, all animal and maybe plant life would die.

To the massive extinctions and in particular, the Permian mass extinction, not all insects died in these events did they? Many insects and arthropods alive today were alive before the PME 250million years ago so your logic is incorrect and they made it through. However, taking away every single one would be insurmountable in an ecosystem that is so dependent on them. The only known environment that I could think of that might possibly survive would be the deep ocean trenches but even that is difficult to predict.

It's a stupid hypothetical construct anyway since it would never happen without a cosmic influence like our star going supernova on our asses which just results in everything dying. The tougher insects and arthropods like cockroaches are far more capable in surviving earths hostile environments even with the influence of humans than we are with all our technology and sentience.

[DarkTZeratul]

all the nuclear power plants around the world would overheat without supervision, melt down and burn in open contact with the atmosphere rendering the whole planet a nuclear wasteland.

Most of them would not burn in open contact with the atmosphere, and even if they did they would not render the whole planet a nuclear wasteland. At worst, the areas in the immediate vicinity of the plants would be badly irradiated.

[Tokru]

There is no need for insects when you only look at them. But there is no need for every other form of life either.

Only on a greater scale of a ecosystem any of them has some kind of worth because of their places in the food chain. But that doesn't mean it is a problem if a species dies.

[Deleted]

there's also no need for many sorts of people to exist yet we do not spray them and be done with it.