As successful as insects are, they evolved to live on land – not in the oceans. This gives us another way to see just how many insects there are on earth, so grab a scientific calculator. (If you need any help ask a math or science teacher - you will make their day!)
Here’s a question for you: The total land area of Earth is approximately 149 million square kilometers (1.49 x 10
8 km
2). If there are 10 quintillion insects on our planet,
on average how many could be found in a 1 meter by 1 meter box?
Here is a little help for those of you not very familiar with the metric system.
A meter is 39.37 inches, or just a little bigger than a yard. A square meter would be an area 1 meter wide by 1 meter long – an area big enough to hold 9 school children.
A square kilometer is an area that is 1000 meters by 1000 meters or, 1,000,000 square meters (1 x 10
6 m). To convert to square meters, multiply 149 million times a million.
(1.49 x 10
8 ) X (1 x 10
6) = ______________ square meters
Now divide the number of insects, 10 quintillion (1 x 10
19) by the number of square meters you got above and you will see how many insects, on average, could fit in that same box with you. Get ready for a little surprise.
(1 x 10
19) ÷ _________ square meters = average number of insects per square meter.
What do you think? Amazing, isn’t it?
Some insects, such as ants and bees, are
eusocial. Read:
An Introduction to Eusociality to get an idea of exactly what it involves. They have a queen which is the only female that reproduces. The other females raise the young, forage for food, and protect the colony. Even though the reproductive female is called the queen, she does not give the workers guidance or commands. The population is essentially self-organizing. How is this possible? Also, what possible advantage could the female worker ants gain by giving up the ability to reproduce? Want more information? Visit
North Carolina State University’s General Entomology 425 site.
Beetles are among the most successful of insects – about 40% of all insect species are beetles. The
biologist J.B.S. Haldane is supposed to have commented that God seemed to have an inordinate fondness for beetles. Why might beetles be so successful? Read,
“Why are there so many freaking beetles? Science may finally have the answer.” Perhaps it was the diet of the beetles that made them so successful? Read this New York Times article and find out.
Love entomology?Visit TED-Ed and
search INSECTS to check out more lessons about all those organisms that just might be driving you “buggy!”
money and a pepol
yes, we are the dominant specie because as they are more than us , they dont think in the same way like us and we can **** them with repellent
Domination is not a matter of population . There might be zillions of insects but most of them we can crash them with our bare hand . But they sure are the most likely to survive in case of extreme environmental changes .
I think that mosquitos took a pretty good shot through the years to **** us . But I would pick beetles , they're quite tough animals .
Carlos,
I agree that insects don't think like we do, but they have the same final goal - to reproduce and pass their genes on to the next generation. Interestingly, the use of insecticides has not be very effective against insects. The attempt to eradicate malaria by spraying with DDT was disastrous - not for them, but for us. Essentially, all we do with insecticides is keep them out of our immediate environment - our homes and other buildings. They own the rest of the planet.
Also, consider the current outbreak of the Zika virus. We are going to face the exact same situation trying to eradicate Aedes aegypti - the mosquito vector for Zika. I will be bold and predict that we will also lose that battle and will have to develop other means to fight the virus, like vaccination.
Many thanks for your comment,
Murry Gans
Yes humans are the dominant species we have repellant and many other tools to get rid of them
if there may be billions of insects in the world but humans are more advanced and more developped them although we are less than inssectos.
Juan,
If we consider the term "advanced", there can be little doubt that humans are much more advanced than insects with our art, intellect, and technology.
In this lesson I was comparing humans to insects on a purely biological basis - animal to animal - as if I was comparing cats to snails. It is a rather strange way to think about people, but remember that we are, indeed, animals.
Is it a fair comparison? I think so. Consider the following simple question. If all humans were to suddenly vanish from the planet, would the ecosystems of the planet collapse? Most think not. But what if all insects were to suddenly vanish from the planet? We humans would have a very difficult time surviving. Insects are major recyclers of nutrients back into the ecosystem and pollinate a lot of our crops, to mention only a couple of things.
I don't expect insects to overthrow human society, but they are much more well adapted to the ecosystem of the Earth and we are.
Murry Gans
Maria,
Interestingly, I heard a report on NPR that several mammologists had picked rats as the species most likely to replace humans should we go extinct. I disagree. Rats are successful, but I think mainly because of us - our trash, waste, and ability to transport them in our planes and ships. Once we are gone I think rat populations will definitely crash.
Do I think insects could replace humans? Definitely not. They are extremely well adapted to their environment and do what they do very, very well. I wouldn't expect insects to become super intelligent and start talking and building airplanes.
I do agree that beetles are pretty amazing and they are everywhere.
Thanks for you comment,
Murry Gans
Cockroaches!! You cannot **** those suckers in a hurry and they (like rats) have adapted to our lifestyle. And what exactly is that revolting white stuff in them. Yuk!!!
Jenny,
Believe it or not, I have actually dissected a couple or cockroaches. The disgusting white stuff is fat. Just like us, it is one way to store extra energy.
Murry
Humans are the dominant species. We have created everything and figured out how to survive and develop the earth.
I think humans are dominant species on Earth. Majority of human murder insects because they cause injury to us.
The attempt to eradicate malaria by spraying with DDT was disastrous - not for them, but for us. Essentially, all we do with insecticides is keep them out of our immediate environment - our homes and other buildings. They own the rest of the planet.
Also, consider the current outbreak of the Zika virus. We are going to face the exact same situation trying to eradicate Aedes aegypti - the mosquito vector for Zika.
If insects evolved to have more complex thought then maybe, just maybe, we would have one very large enemy to defeat. But of course we won't see anything remotely like that for millions of years. But if we do... we wouldn't stand a chance. we would all be extinct in a matter of WEEKS. But, that is only if they evolve complex enough thought to think "I think its time that humans stepped down and began to feel our version of bug spray (or any other thing we use to ward off or eradicate insects)". If they were to decide to purposefully attack us, I say yes, we would be doomed. Unless of course it were butterflies that attacked us, that'd just be funny! Mabey a little annoying later on...
Humans are not the most thing on this Earth because clearly there are more insects than humans & many insects have venom or are poisonous.
Ants have the largest population in the world. Their population between 10 - 100,000 trillion ants.
domination is not about numbers but more brains
agreed
First of all we need to clarify what is the meaning of "dominance" into this context. If we're talking about numbers, of course our population will be opaque compared with the billions of insects around the world. But if we're taking into count much more variables, such as the ability of adaption, the debate will take a much more complex approach. It all depends on what you want to contrast.
Mosquitoes are the dominant species. They multiply faster than humans, and they cause so many diseases that are transferred to the human species.