Sep 10, 2026 · 50 min
Insects face a crisis built from many pressures
Where Have The Insects Gone?? With Dr. Jessica Ware
Insect declines threaten pollination, soil health, food webs, and ecosystems, while the evidence resists both easy reassurance and simple catastrophe narratives.
- 1Insect declines reflect interacting pressures including climate change, habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, drought, fires, and land-use change.
- 2Honeybee colony problems differ from native pollinator declines, making diverse habitats and native pollinator gardens especially important.
- 3Public reporting, scientific expertise, funding, and rapid collaboration helped eradicate the invasive giant northern hornet.
Don't miss
Ware explains how male dragonflies remove rival sperm, alongside the painstaking microscopy work used to study their reproductive anatomy.
The brief
Entomologist Jessica Ware opens with the insect world’s evolutionary importance, then takes the conversation from Arctic fieldwork and ancient dragonflies to the evidence behind today’s insect declines.
Dragonfly mating becomes a vivid detour into reproductive competition: males can remove rivals’ sperm, while Ware has dissected and gold-coated tiny specimens for electron microscopy.
The insect apocalypse is neither dismissed nor treated as one universal collapse. Drought, floods, fires, climate change, land use, nitrogen pollution, cars, lawns, and pesticides interact.
Ware separates domesticated honeybee problems from the broader health of native pollinators, pointing toward native gardens and fewer lawns rather than a single fix.
The successful eradication of the invasive giant northern hornet shows what coordinated reporting, expertise, funding, and rapid action can accomplish before a species spreads further.
The closing myth-busting turns insects from objects of fear into animals with complex behavior, sensory abilities, maternal care, and even evidence of play.
Featuring
Arctic Environment
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