Many species of insects – bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, beetles and flies – pollinate vegetable plants in India. The decline in these beneficial insects is not yet well understood, but it is likely that a combination of factors is involved. Researchers are looking at ways to reverse this decline, as many of the vegetable crops affected are important contributors to India’s nutritional health.
Environmental and Health Issues Related to Beneficial Insect Declines
As with bee colony collapse disorder, insecticides and disease may play a role in the decline of India’s beneficial insects. But habitat loss and climate change issues may also be having an effect on these plant-pollinating species. Subtle changes in climate can result in plants flowering before the pollinating insects emerge in spring.
A further concern is that people may be taking rare and endangered species, both legally and illegally, for private insect collections. In India the more than 1500 native species of butterflies, a favorite species for insect collectors, are important vegetable plant pollinators.
Sustainable Farming and Wild Harvest Methods Help Endangered Insect Pollinators
Using sustainable farming techniques, which balance environmentally and economically sound agriculture methods, a team from the University of Calcutta’s Ecology Research Unit, has shown that more vegetable plant pollinators are present under these conditions.
Their ecological farming program combines the benefits of modern agricultural techniques with organic and sustainable practices, including providing a healthy environment for native insect pollination. These sustainable farming practices may slow the decline in beneficial insect populations and improve vegetable crop production.
India is also home to four species of honey producing bees. The population of the native Indian honey bee, Apis dorsata, has declined by more than 20% in the last 10 years. Its honey, collected by tribal peoples using sustainable methods, is highly prized as a flavorful, naturally organic product. But the bee has not been successfully kept in captivity so its native forest habitat must be protected in order to maintain this beneficial insect and the livelihood it provides for indigenous peoples.
Beneficial Insect Conservation For Environmental and Human Health
The focus of the University of Calcutta’s work is on the role of beneficial insects in sustainable agriculture, which is tied in with the need to produce enough of the vegetables, such as squashes and eggplants, which are an inexpensive source of some important nutrients.
But the protection of beneficial insects will have much further reaching consequences. From disappearing Ayurvedic medicine plants to the forest and grassland habitat that supports India’s endangered tigers and elephants, the importance of plant pollinating insects to healthy ecosystems is just beginning to be understood.
Dawn M. Smith - A vet nurse, Dawn has worked in wildlife rehabilitation and conservation around the world in addition to her veterinary hospital ...
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