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## Meet the editor

Hamadttu Abdel Farag El-Shafie is an Associate Professor of Entomology and a senior research entomologist at the Date Palm Research Center of Excellence, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. He is the head of the sustainable pest management research program at Date Palm. He obtained his BSc and MSc from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, in 1988 and 1993, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Giessen, In-

stitute of Phytopathology and Applied Entomology, Germany, in 2001. In 2008, Dr. El-Shafie was appointed head of the Crop Protection Department, and then deputy dean for academic affairs at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, Sudan. He supervised twenty-five MSc students and five Ph.D. students at the University of Khartoum. His research interest focuses on the sustainable management of field crop pests using biopesticides and semiochemical-based technologies. He has more than twelve years of experience in the management of the invasive red palm weevil and other date palm pests of major significance. He has published seventy research papers in international peer-reviewed journals and seventeen book chapters with international publishers. He has also edited two books. Dr. El-Shafie has participated in more than thirty international conferences in the field of entomology. During the last decade, he has been reviewing manuscripts for thirty-five renowned international journals.

Contents

**Section 1**

*and Barkat Hussain*

*and Fousséni Traore*

**Section 2**

Potential Reasons for Insect Decline

**Preface XI**

Potential Causes of Insect Decline **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 25**

**Chapter 3 43**

**Chapter 4 65**

**Chapter 5 85**

Possible Mitigating Measures of Insect Decline **101**

**Chapter 6 103** Botanical Insecticides Are a Non-Toxic Alternative to Conventional Pesticides

*by Mumuni Abudulai, Jerry Asalma Nboyine, Peter Quandahor, Ahmed Seidu* 

Pesticide Impact on Honeybees Declines and Emerging Food Security Crisis

Diversity, Importance and Decline of Pollinating Insects in Present Era

*by Nazeer Ahmed, Mukhtar Alam, Muhammad Saeed, Hidayat Ullah, Toheed Iqbal, Khalid Awadh Al-Mutairi, Kiran Shahjeer, Rafi Ullah, Saeed Ahmed, Nibal Abd Aleem Hassan Ahmed, Hanem Fathy Khater* 

*by Showket A. Dar, Mohmmad Javed Ansari, Yahya Al Naggar, Shafia Hassan,* 

Causes and Reasons of Insect Decline and the Way Forward

*by Gagan Preet Kour Bali and Amritpal Singh Kaleka*

*by Farkhanda Manzoor and Mahnoor Pervez*

*by Navkiran Kaur and Amritpal Singh Kaleka*

in the Control of Insects and Pests

*and Muhammad Salman*

*Syed Nighat, Syed Burjes Zehra, Rizwan Rashid, Mudasir Hassan* 

Agricultural Intensification Causes Decline in Insect Biodiversity

## Contents



Preface

Insects represent a diverse group of animals with numerous species on the planet. They contribute significantly to maintaining and proper functioning of different ecosystems. Insects pollinate crops, improve soil characteristics, provide food for other animals, recycle nutrients, and control insect pests. During the last decade, scientists began to speak loudly about global insect decline. They used alarming terminologies such as defaunation, insectageddon, insect apocalypse, and extinction in the literature to describe such decline in insect abundance, biomass, and species richness. The use of such alarming words may be justified in order to raise awareness about the negative impacts of insect decline on agricultural sustainability, the environment, and food security. The decline of insects could severely affect birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and small mammals that utilize insects as a source of food. This will have great repercussions on the overall ecosystem. Evidence shows that the numbers of different groups of insects including butterflies, moths, bumblebees, stingless bees, honeybees, dragonflies, and beetles are beginning to decrease. There are many reasons for this global decline, including agricultural intensification, urbanization, habitat destruction, and climate change. However, intensive agriculture, particularly the heavy and unwise use of pesticides that

This book amalgamates information pertaining to the global decline of insects with emphasis on the potential reasons behind this decline and the possible means of mitigating it. It contains eleven chapters distributed into two sections. Section 1 includes five chapters that discuss potential causes of insect decline. Section 2 contains six chapters that elaborate on potential measures to mitigate this decline.

Chapter 1 by Dar et al. discuss the causes and reasons for insect decline with emphasis on factors such as heavy use of pesticides, habitat destruction, urbanization, climate change, and introduction of new invasive species. In Chapter 2, Bali and Kaleka elaborate on the systematic drivers of insect decline including habitat or landscape fragmentation, deforestation, and climate change. In Chapter 3, Abudulai et al. explain the impact of agricultural intensification on insect abundance and biodiversity. Manzoor and Pervez highlight the potential impact of pesticides on the honeybee in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, Kaleka and Kaur provide useful information on the diversity, importance, and decline of pollinating insects in the present era. They point out the significance of the different groups of pollinators such as bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, ants, and beetles as well as the reasons behind their

Section 2 contains chapters dealing with the measures that could halt or mitigate the impacts of global insect decline on the planet's ecosystems. In chapter 6, Ahmed et al. discuss plant-based biological insecticides as alternative and environmentally friendly insect control methods with a benign or mild adverse effects on insects. Likewise, in Chapter 7, Iqbal et al. address botanicals with active ingredients having insecticidal, antifeeding, and repellent properties. In Chapter 8, Thenepalli explains the role of microorganisms in the biodegradation of pesticides and the impact of the whole process in the alleviation of the harmful effect of pesticides on insects.

persist in the ecosystem, is the major cause.

decline in the different ecosystems.

*by Hamadttu Abdel Farag El-Shafie*
