Page 26 - Irene Farm Village Issue 10 2021

Book Review

heY! What aBout InSectS?

BY JAMES CLARKE
he general public, by inclination, book of serious science filled with
tends to view conservationists as excellent illustrations (1 600 photographs
Tpeople concerned mostly with alone) and bite-sized, though intricate,
saving the big, hairy and cuddly. Unfair, texts describing individual species, their
perhaps, yet maybe we conservationists anatomy, their incredibly diverse but
deserve that rather narrow image. critically important roles in the various
These were my thoughts after spending ecosystems and their status.
hours reading – or, rather, compulsively It made me wonder how many of us
and happily browsing one of the most conservationists are currently aware
browsable books I have ever come of the seriousness of the decline in the
across: Pollinators, Predators & Parasites populations of critically important species
published by Struik Nature. here and overseas.
I found myself, figuratively at least, According to the foreword by Johan
sitting bolt upright soon after I opened the van Zyl, Pretoria University’s vice-
book. I realised how conservationists (and chancellor and professor of agriculture,
I include myself) and our institutions, have “Disturbing recent studies have reported
signally failed to recognise the pivotal alarming declines of insect populations
role of insects when it comes to human with as many as half of the world’s insects
survival and the threats building up so rapidly declining that one third may
against the 50 000 or so recognised South already be threatened with extinction.
African species. Without quick intervention to slow or
Not that this 450 page book was reverse the situation, the environmental
intended to be yet another ‘green’ consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”
exhortation. It is, basically, a delightful Among the species in decline is the

Worker honeybees are all female Lattice moths – one of the few diurnal moths
PHOTO BY HENNIE DE KLERK PHOTO BY HENNIE DE KLERK

Foam locust: the foam is a repellent against would-be predators Butterflies - the second most important pollinators after bees
PHOTO BY MIKE PICKER PHOTO BY HENNIE DE KLERK

24 • Issue 10 2021 • The Villager