2026-09-18T22:01:48Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1237832025-10-27T18:00:45Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Thomas Levenson.
Frederick, Eva Charles Anna.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Comparative Media Studies.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
2020-02-10T22:51:35Z
2020-02-10T22:51:35Z
2019
2019
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123783
1138991051
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).
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.
by Eva Charles Anna Frederick.
S.M. in Science Writing
S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing
26 pages
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Comparative Media Studies.
Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Plague of absence : insect declines and the fate of ecosystems
Insect declines and the fate of ecosystems
Thesis
application/pdf
2020-02-10T22:51:34Z
Publication
Master
CMSW
unknown
unknown
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<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.</Abstract>
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