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INTRODUCTION
TO ENTOMOLOGY
Why
is Entomology important to you?
The
science of Entomology has the unique task of understanding some 80% of the
species on Earth, of which perhaps 85% remain uncollected and undescribed.
Although vast, the task is coherent; insects and their terrestrial allies
have similar body plans, and shared genetic, ecological and evolutionary
constraints. About one third of the world's crop production depends
directly or indirectly on pollination by insects. The overall value of
pollination in the world, most of it by insects, has been estimated at about
$117 billion per year (Costanza et al. 1997). The overall value of natural
biological control, again mostly by insects, is over $400 billion per year
(Costanza et al. 1997). The value of nutrient cycling in terrestrial
ecosystems is over $3 trillion per year (Costanza et al. 1997). Much of the
nutrient cycling is done by insects and related arthropods, which can compose
half the animal biomass in some tropical forests (Fittkau and Linge 1973). As
pests and human competitors they destroy or eat $5 billion; as disease
vectors, insects weaken or kill 200 million people per year. Obviously,
the study of insects and their relatives is not purely academic.
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