Insects: Nature's Tiny Ecosystem Engineers

Abstract: Biotic communities are vital for providing ecological functions and ecosystem services. As a dominant from of animal biomass and life on earth, insects represents many different trophic niches. Insects are abundant in all terrestrial ecosystem and display a wide variation among species in almost any aspects of their biology. Insects are the key components in diverse ecosystems as major role players in functioning of ecosystem process. Insects may be beneficial to humans in various ways, directly or indirectly. A wide range of ecological functions in their natural ecosystems, including biological control of insect pest, soil scavengers, pollination and soil health enhancement. Predators and parasitoids regulate pest populations, reducing the need for chemical pesticides, while pollinators such as bees, butterflies, solitary bees, bumble bees and flies enhance crop yields and quality through effective pollination, soil-dwelling insects contribute to nutrient cycling an soil structure, improving plant health and productivity. Insects are vital for human survival because crops cannot be produced without the ecosystem functions provided by insects. Around 72% of the world’s crops are dependent on insects for pollination. Pollinating insects improve or stabilize the yield of three-quarters of all crops types globally. Globally pollination services by insects are estimated to contribute 9.5% to yield of crop production. Sufficient food production for a growing human population has become an issue of global concern. The global challenge is to make agricultural production environmentally compatible. Beneficial insects are vital components of sustainable crop production system, providing key ecosystem services. Insects have been hugely successful in terms of both species richness and abundance. Insects make up the most numerous group of organisms on earth, around 66% of all animal species and being good dispersers and exploiters of virtually all types of organic matter, can be found almost everywhere, forming an important part of every ecosystem and are vital within our food supply chains performing valuable ecosystem services. Despite their numerous benefits, the effective integration of beneficial insects is challenged by knowledge gaps in ecological interaction, high implementation costs and environmental pressure such as habitat loss. Habitat management is a key strategy for enhancing the population of beneficial insects. To ensure stable crop yields we need to change the management strategies of agroecosystem. We need to manage these systems in such a way that insects performing valuable ecosystem services are also incorporated into the system. Awareness of management techniques bringing the beneficial insects into the crop fields is a method forward to enhance agriculture ecosystems for growing crop production. Supportive policies and educational initiatives are necessary to encourage farmers to adopt insect-friendly practices.