If that studys findings are broadly valid something still far from certain it has chilling implications for global biodiversity.
Our natural world depends on arthropods.
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And the carnage didnt end there.
Insects are crucial in food webs for species such as this jacamar.
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In the minds of many ecologists, a widespread collapse of arthropods could be downright apocalyptic.
In the 1940s, evolutionary biologistJ.
B. S. Haldanequipped that God has an inordinate fondness for beetles.
Humans might think we rule the world, but the planet really belongs to arthropods.
But the evidence kept pointing to another driver: rising temperatures.
This is because nearly all living species have thresholds of temperature tolerance.
But nudge the thermometer up just one more degree, to 42C, and the bats suddenly die.
The ground beneath bat colonies was littered with tens of thousands of dead animals.
Dedicated animal carers could only save a small fraction of the dying bats.
New research is acting like resolving longstanding uncertainties about El Ninos and global warming.
If theyre right then global warming was the gun, but El Nino pulled the trigger.
Robust studies inEurope,North America,Australiaand other locales have revealed big arthropod declines as well.
Monarch butterflies are declining in the USA and Mexico, probably from habitat disruption.
Pixabay
So, at a planetary scale, arthropods are suffering from a wide variety of environmental insults.
Theresno single reasonwhy their populations are collapsing.
The bottom line is: were changing our world in many different ways at once.
