Introduction to Entomology

Definition—the scientific study of insects

Domains of Entomology
• Cataloguing insect diversity and determining the evolutionary
relationships among insect groups (systematics and taxonomy).
• Quantifying the distribution and abundance of insects and their
interactions with other organisms (population and community
ecology).
• Studying the physiology, life cycles and natural history of individual
species (physiology, development and behavior).
• Studying the relationships of insects to humans to maximize
benefits and minimize costs to human society (applied
entomology).
 Relation of Insects to Humans
Beneficial Effects
1. Pollination of agriculture and forest plants worth $19 billion per year in the US.
2. Commercial products from insects (e.g., honey, beeswax, silk, shellac,
cochineal) worth $300 million per year in the US.
3. Biological control of insect pests. Cottony cushion scale, a pest of citrus fruit
was controlled in California by the veladia beetle in 1888 for a total cost of
$2000. Each dollar spent in biological control research saves the state of
California about $30.
4. Medical treatment/therapy (maggot therapy, bee venom therapy, cantharidin
from blister beetles used for wart removal).
5. Forensic tools in criminal/legal cases (time of death, location of the crime).
6. Scientific research (e.g., Drosophila as a model system in genetics and
development).
 Beneficial Effects: Honey Bees
• Bees in general and honey bees in particular are
important pollinators of wild and domesticated
plants. Many endemic plants in Utah are
pollinated by wild bees. Domesticated honey
bee colonies are used to pollinate important
crops such as apples, almonds, alfalfa and
clover.
• Wild bee populations have been in decline for
years due to land use changes and inadvertent
introduction of parasites and diseases and
probably climate change.
• Late in 2006, one-third of the domesticated
honey bee colonies in the US died off
mysteriously (Colony Collapse Disorder). Colony
Collapse Disorder is probably caused by a virus
introduced to the US by the importation of
Australian honey bees, the first such importation
since the 1920s.

• Declines in pollinator populations, if they

continue can have a huge impact on our
agricultural practices and economy and on the
conservation of our native flora and fauna.
 Relation of Insects to Humans
Harmful Effects
1. Damage to agricultural products and household good worth $14.4 billion per
year in US. One third of all agricultural productivity is lost to insects.
2. Pesticide use to control insects pests costs $5 billion a year in US.
3. Loss in forest products due to insects or insect-caused disease costs $15
billion per year in US.
4. Livestock disease (e.g., screwworm). Screwworms are the larval stage of
the fly Cochliomyia hominivorax. Eggs are laid in small wounds of cattle and
other warm-blooded animals, including humans, and larvae burrow through
the flesh and consume it, causing severe tissue damage or even death. The
US eradicated the screwworm in 1982 using the sterile male technique.
5. Insect borne diseases (yellow fever, malaria, dengue fever, sleeping
sickness, river blindness, leishmaniasis, filariasis, and plague) infect 500-
750 million people per year worldwide leaving many of them dead, disabled
or disfigured.
 Harmful Effects: Bark Beetles
• Mountain bark beetles are spreading throughout
forests of the Western US and Canada.
Wyoming and Colorado have lost over 2 million
acres and British Colombia has lost an
astonishing 33 million acres. Loss of these
forests affect the economy through loss of
timber and recreational revenue and loss of
watershed and water quality.

• Bark beetles infest trees weakened by drought,

overcrowding or disease. They make galleries in
the trunks and inject a fungus to prevent sap
flow that would drown their larvae. Lack of sap
flow eventually kills the trees.

• The recent outbreak of bark beetles is due to fire

suppression policies, a 10-year drought in
Western North America and mild winters that
result in lower mortality rates of the beetles.
Drought and mild winters are a result of global
warming.

• Bark beetles may represent one of several

“tipping points” in global warming caused by a
positive feedback loop. Forests are an important
carbon sink that slows global warming. As bark
beetle populations increase, more forests are
destroyed which releases more carbon into the
atmosphere. This in turn causes more mild
winters which allows bark beetle populations to
increase even more.
 Insect Species Richness
• Approximately 1 million insect species
have been described. This is 57% of all
described species including plants,
algae, fungi, viruses, monerans, and
other animals.
• Estimated number of insect species
worldwide ranges from 2 million to 30
million.
• Conservative estimates suggest that
only 15% of insect species have been
described. In contrast, probably more
than 99% of birds and mammals have
been described.
• We know next to nothing about the
natural history of more than 95% of the
insects we have identified and
described.
 Evolutionary and Ecological
Success of Insects
• Insects dominate terrestrial habitats in
both species richness, numerical
abundance and often in terms of biomass.
Only extreme latitudes and elevations are
poor in insects.
• Insects are not very successful in marine
habitats, although they are very successful
in freshwater habitats. Why?
 What accounts for the ecological and
evolutionary success of insects?
• Small size. Small body size allows insects to divide up
habitats and resources into more niches than larger
organisms, which allows more species to persist. Small
size also means that more individuals can be supported
per unit habitat or resource.
• Short generation time. Organisms with short
generation times have faster rates of evolution and
possibly greater rates of speciation.
• Coevolution and the evolution of specialization.
Small size makes specialization possible because a
small resource base can still support a viable population
size. Rapid evolution allows rapid response to changes
in biotic environment and allows evolutionary interactions
between species.
 Three Evolutionary Innovations
• Wings. Insects are the only invertebrates that fly. This gives
them increased mobility which enhances their ability to capture
prey, avoid enemies and harsh conditions, and colonize new
habitats.
• Mouthparts. From the same 5 basic mouthparts insects have
evolved a remarkable variety of feeding structures (e.g., chewing,
sucking, sponging), which gives them the ability to exploit a wide
range of food resources (e.g., nectar, sap, blood, seeds, plant
tissue, animal tissue, dung, carrion). Insects exploit a wider range
of resources than any other group (class) of animals.
• Polyphenisms. Many insects have evolved metamorphosis in
which immature life stages (larvae) are very different from the
adult life stage in form, habitat and resource use. This allows
individuals of a single species to exploit two very different
environments during their lifetime. Examples: adult and larvae
butterflies, aquatic insects.
 Conclusions
• Insects are the most diverse group of organisms
on Earth, with approximately 1 millions species
described and an estimated total number of
species from 2-10 million.
• Insects affect nearly all aspects of human life,
both for the better and for the worse. There is no
doubt that insects have affected human behavior
and human evolution.
• The success of insects is due to their small size,
short generation time and evolutionary
innovation.