While most people don’t think much about them, one expert says dung beetles very important for the environment.
Kim Sheldon has an affection for the dung beetle. It’s quite fitting then that she’s an entomologist at the University of Tennessee. It’s a good thing that people like her have taken an interest in insects.
She tells CBS News she’s concerned about the effect climate change will have on the dung beetle, so she’s studying that right now.
While most people don’t think much about them, she says they’re very important for the environment.
“That's why people have described insects as the little things that run the world, because they're really that important,” she told CBS News. “Dung beetles reduce greenhouse gas emissions from things like cow pies.”
Oliver Milman, author of “The Insect Crisis,” tells CBS News, “the dung beetle we mentioned before is, um, really important disposing of waste that would otherwise carry all kinds of diseases, pathogens that would be passed between animals and humans.”
It’s not just the dung beetle. Milman says all insects are dying off in large numbers, and that spells trouble for the environment.
More than 100 thousand beekeepers have answered the call to preserve the honeybee, like Elisha Bixler of Florida.
“We rely on them for so much pollination, apples, almonds, blueberries, pumpkins, avocados, macadamia nuts,” Bixler tells CBS News.
But these experts say all insects could use some help to thrive and keep our planet healthy.
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