Scott Turner, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
They’re the soil-builders that allow Africa’s arid savannas to be lush grasslands. What do they do inside their huge mounds – and how does a collective mind allow them to do it?
A painting from Botha’s Shelter in the Ndedema Gorge in the Drakensburg, said to be home to a rich tapestry of San art and life.
Wits University Press
Formlings are representations of flying termites and their underground nests. They are associated with botantical subjects considered by the San to have great spiritual significance.
Locust sits on a wheat stalk.
Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters
Insects have been in a feature in agriculture since the end of the 19th century. Using a combination of new and old control methods is the best way to deal with our food competitors.
Nematodes play an important role in all biological systems.
Shutterstock
Dung beetles have been cleaning up the planet for at least 65 million years. The 6000 species across the world have adapted to a life at the back end of the food chain in the most remarkable ways.
Insects are key to holding the food chain together. Without them, much of what we eat today won’t exist.
Pia Addison
Data from all over the globe suggest that bees are in decline, and we may lose a lot more than honey if bees are unable to cope with the changing climate and increasing demand for agricultural land.
Bats have adapted new hunting techniques in their pursuit of moths who in turn have developed defensive strategies.
Sarun T/Shutterstock
Notorious for their gruesome cannibalism, praying mantises have a hidden talent. Controlling the spin on their jumps allows juveniles to make precision landings, before their wings have developed.
Orange Harlequin bugs are unappealing to birds – and almost invisible to a preying mantis.
Louise (Flickr) via Wikimedia Commons
Did you know that the sky isn’t actually blue? Perhaps in school you learned about how air scatters light, filtering out red light from the sun, but that is only half the story. While our eyes perceive…
New York is one of many cities whose mythical allure claims that the streets are paved with gold. Sadly, you are more likely to be treading on – or at least wading through – the remains of burgers, hot…
Stink bug. As names go it is a PR disaster, each of the words alone hardly endearing, and, in combination, wholly off-putting. Which is a shame because stink bugs have a perky charm, a distinctive style…
The Australian Emperor Dragonfly is only a handful compared to its ancestors who measured more than 60cm.
Flickr/Daniel lightscaper
The time and date of the origin of insects and their pattern of evolution and survival over millions of years is revealed in a new study, published today in Science magazine. Insect relationships have…
Where the rainforest meets the plantation: there are probably a lot more insects.
Ryan Woo for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Palm oil plantations have an overall negative impact on biodiversity, according to research released this week. The study, published in Nature Communications, found palm oil plantations are home to fewer…
A male Onthophagus vacca, the species of dung beetle being released this week in Western Australia.
CSIRO
The average cow drops between 10 and 12 dung pads (also known as “pats”) every day and just one of those cow pads can produce up to 3,000 flies in a fortnight. With more than 28 million cattle in Australia…