biology

Insect biodiversity

Insect biodiversity is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Insect biodiversity rather than just read about it. In short: Insect biodiversity accounts for a large proportion of all biodiversity on the planet—over half of the estimated 1.5 million organism species described are classified as insects. Species diversity Estimates of the total number of insect species or those within specific orders are often highly variable.

Key takeaways

Insect biodiversity belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Insect biodiversity to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Insect biodiversity from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Insect biodiversity accounts for a large proportion of all biodiversity on the planet—over half of the estimated 1.5 million organism species described are classified as insects.

Species diversity Estimates of the total number of insect species or those within specific orders are often highly variable. Globally, averages of these predictions estimate there are around 1.5 million beetle species and 5.5 million insect species, with around 1 million insect species currently found and described. Between 950,000–1,000,000 of all described animal species are considered insects, so over 50% of all described eukaryotes (1.8 million species) are insects (see illustration). With only 950,000 known non-insects, if the actual total number of insects is 5.5 million, they may represent over 80% of the total, and with only about 20,000 new species of all organisms being described each year, most insect species likely will remain undescribed, unless species descriptions greatly increase in rate. Of the 24 identified orders of insects, five dominate in terms of numbers of described species, namely Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (flies and mosquitoes), Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps and sawflies) and Hemiptera (true bugs, e.g. cicadas, aphids, leafhoppers, bed bugs and assassin bugs). At least 900,000 described species — about 90% of all known insects — belong to the five aforementioned orders, each of which has over 100,000 species, while the next (sixth) most diverse order, Orthoptera (locusts, grasshoppers and crickets), has just under 24,000 species.

The fossil record concerning insects stretches back for hundreds of millions of years. It suggests there are ongoing background levels of both new species appearing and extinctions. Very occasionally, the record also appears to show mass extinctions of insects. The Permian–Triassic extinction event saw the greatest level of insect extinction, with the Cretaceous–Paleogene being the second highest. Insect diversity has recovered after past mass extinctions, due to periods where new species originate with increased frequency, though the recovery can take millions of years.

In the Holocene

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Insect biodiversity

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Insect biodiversity claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Insect biodiversity before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Insect biodiversity ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Insect biodiversity

In research: Insect biodiversity appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Insect biodiversity in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Insect biodiversity is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biodiversity, Insect ecology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Insect biodiversity outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Insect biodiversity in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Insect biodiversity means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Insect biodiversity out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Insect biodiversity in simple terms?

Insect biodiversity accounts for a large proportion of all biodiversity on the planet—over half of the estimated 1.5 million organism species described are classified as insects. Species diversity Estimates of the total number of insect species or those within specific orders are often highly varia…

Why does Insect biodiversity matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Insect biodiversity?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Insect biodiversity.