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They're worth a cool $57 billion to the United States each year, that's what.
Next time you dismiss insects as mere creepy-crawlies, ponder for a while on what life would be like without them. Our six-legged friends might be more valuable than you think — research estimates that they're worth at least a staggering $57 billion to the US economy every year.
Read the story here.
Posted by Nicola Jones on April 1, 2006 03:30 AM | Permalink
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Soy editora de www.genaltruista.com y quisiera publicar el trabajo en español, si pueden decirle al investigador que en caso de desear compartirlo con el mundo hispano, me envía mail a anaherbsz@fibertel.com.ar gracias.
[Editor's note: the translation of this seems to be - "I am the publisher of www.genaltruista.com and would like to publish this story in Spanish. If the investigator involved wishes to share his work with the Hispanic world, please send mail to me at anaherbsz@fibertel.com.ar thanks."]
Posted by: Ana Herbsztein | April 4, 2006 03:04 PM
I had not realized how much thought and work goes into the most often unnoticed beings like insects. Despite being a very important part of our lives, insects are also fascinating creatures to learn about and especially collect.
Posted by: Suma Stephen | April 4, 2006 06:49 PM
I can appreciate the desire to convey the value of healthy ecosystems to policy-makers and the general public, but to attempt to estimate the value of insects to the U.S. economy is a dubious undertaking at best, and to go on to suggest that the result summarizes their worth in general is absurd. The quote by coauthor John Losey strikes the most sensible tone in the entire article, yet even therein we find references to "services insects provide." I understand from the article that the greatest contribution to the authors' estimate was their role as prey -- the "service" insects provide by being caught and eaten by birds. Perhaps a more apt title would have been "Insects give up lives in service of economy" as an alternative to "What's the point of insects?"
Posted by: George Y. McLean | April 4, 2006 08:09 PM
Insects:
-A million ways they work the overburden soil of the planet.
-A million ways they tie together the ecosystem for all other living things.
-Marvels of engineering materials and locomotion emulated by human beings.
-Sources of hi-tech ideas for detection, imaging, transmission, and communication.
-Sources or dyes for your foods, finishes for furniture.
-Without them, there would be many missing pharmaceutics.
And I do love their honey in my cereal!
Posted by: Gary W. Filice | April 6, 2006 08:28 PM
Interesting article by Mr.Losey & Mr.Vaughan as to the monetory value of insects to the U.S economy.What would that value be to the world?. If you could quantify the lose of insects to the human race or any economy, it could possibly read something like this: no insects = no birds ,no pollination, no fish,no fertile soil,no crops,no food,no humans.So can you actually put a monetary economic value on insects to the human race?
Posted by: Maureen Sheehan | April 6, 2006 10:34 PM
River Danube reached its highest level for some 111 years, forcing residents of Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia to flee their homes. With weeks of snowmelt and rain swelling Europe's second-longest river, the waters haven’t dipped below that level since.
Posted by: Download | October 5, 2007 09:46 PM