Identifying predictors of insect abundance
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From Animal-Ethics.org
November 2019

Insect sentience is the subject of ongoing scientific investigation, and there is some important evidence for them being sentient, because they have highly developed sensory abilities and nervous systems. In general, insects live complex and active lives for which sentience may be adaptive.

LadyBug

Insects are among the most abundant groups of terrestrial animal. Due to this, any view concerned with the moral consideration of sentient beings, especially in the wild, needs to pay a lot of attention to the situation of these animals. Insect sentience is the subject of ongoing scientific investigation, and there is some important evidence for them being sentient, because they have highly developed sensory abilities and nervous systems. In general, insects live complex and active lives for which sentience may be adaptive.

Some insects also show complex behavior, such as the dance language of honeybees. This suggests their brains may also be able to support sentience. If, as this evidence indicates, they are sentient, then given the relevance of sentience, their sheer numbers make them very important in our decisions concerning how to best improve the situation of animals. It is been estimated that there may be approximately 1018 insects.

Understanding the present drivers and correlates of insect abundance might be helpful in comparing different situations with regard to the total amount of insect suffering present or possible in them. Accordingly, it can also be useful in predicting or measuring the consequences of actions we could take that could be beneficial or harmful to them.

The study of insect populations can also be relevant to the study of the wellbeing of other animals in different ecosystems, because insect populations can significantly affect the other animal populations that live in the same ecosystem. But the main way insects can contribute negatively or positively to the overall levels of wellbeing in an ecosystem is quite direct: through their own levels of suffering or positive wellbeing.

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