Plague of absence : insect declines and the fate of ecosystems
Name
1138991051-MIT.pdf
Size
2.51 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
eb0deadfcdb82973b73266c398442979
Author(s)
Frederick, Eva Charles Anna.
Advisor(s)
Thomas Levenson.
Alternative Title
Insect declines and the fate of ecosystems
Date Issued
2019
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In November of 2017, a group of researchers published a paper showing that since the 1980s, insect populations in protected areas in Germany have decreased by over 75 percent. The decline, dubbed by one reporter the "insect armageddon," was widespread, affecting sites on nature reserves across the country. It was also indiscriminate, affecting not just certain species, but overall biomass. In the following years, similar studies from Greenland, Puerto Rico, and locations in North America have also shown declines in number of insect species, abundance, and habitat. These declines have serious implications for ecosystems and for humans, some of which we can already see in effect, and some that scientists can't even predict to their full extent. This thesis will profile a research team in Costa Rica who are using caterpillar-parasitoid interactions to make estimates about insect population health, and explore the reasons for and extent of insect declines and their consequences for humans.
Description
Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 25-26).
Subjects
Comparative Media Studies.
Graduate Program in Science Writing.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
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