Diverse helpers

In technical terms, the diverse helpers are called associated biodiversity . These are species that are important, for example through pollination, attacking pests on animals and plants, helping with soil formation and soil health, water supply and water quality. These can be microorganisms, invertebrates, vertebrates such as amphibians, birds and mammals, and wild and cultivated land and aquatic plants.

Photo: Kore Foundation.

Pollination

15-30% of the food humans eat is pollinated by insects, and insect pollination is necessary for 75% of all plants grown for human consumption. Beetles, flies, bees and butterflies pollinate plants in Norway.

There are 208 wild bee species in Norway, of which 35 are bumblebees. In addition, there is the honeybee, which is considered a domestic animal. Approximately 30 percent of the bee species in Norway are red listed. More than 6,000 species of flower flies, butterflies and beetles have been registered, and many of these are important for pollination. In the groups of flies, butterflies and beetles, approximately 20 percent of the species are red listed (threatened or near threatened) in Norway. The most important threats to the insects are intensive agriculture and overgrowth. There are many and complex reasons why the insects are in decline.

The value of insect work in the world is estimated at 5,000 billion kroner per year (IPBES 2016). The number and diversity of pollinators in Norway is declining, and seed production from many plants either depends on, or benefits from, flower visits by insects. For example, it is estimated that seed production for 80% of Norwegian wild plant species is dependent on pollination.

Degradation

Insects also do a great job of returning nutrients to the soil from dead plant debris, carrion, and not least poop. In Australia, pastures were drowning in cow dung and flies when Europeans introduced cows. The native Australian dung beetles were only adapted to dry dung from marsupials. The solution was to introduce 1.7 million dung beetles of 43 different species from Africa. Half of the species established themselves, and the amount of nitrogen that was returned to the soil rose from 15 to 75%. This shows how important insects can be in decomposition (although it is rarely desirable to move species between continents in this way).

In Swedish forests, an experiment was conducted where ants were removed from small areas of forest floor. This made the most common herbaceous plants even more common, and herbaceous plants are easier to decompose than woody plants such as heather and heather. This made more nutrients available in the soil, the activity of some soil bacteria increased, and large amounts of new and old plant remains were decomposed. This actually reduced the soil's carbon and nitrogen stocks by about 15%.

In addition to insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses and invertebrates in soil are essential to all ecosystems. But we know little about who they are, how many species and individuals there are, what they do and how different species interact.

Earthworms, insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses and invertebrates in soil are essential in all ecosystems. Photo: Vitenparken .

Plant protection

Not only do insects provide pollination and nutrition for the soil, they are also important for keeping pests at bay. Together with spiders, they eat quite a few insects that damage the fields. For example, many have aphids as their favorite dish, and that is handy for us. But they don't just eat aphids, they have a varied diet, so to keep insects and spiders in fields and meadows, we must ensure that there are good conditions for, among other things, springtails and various flies. In addition, larvae and adults often have different diets. At one stage, the insect can be a predator, at the next, a herbivore. For example, goldeneye larvae eat leaf sap, while the adults eat flower nectar. In order to get useful, aphid-eating larvae, there must be nectar-producing flowers for the adults as well.

Soil-dwelling organisms, including fungi and bacteria, can both cause disease in plants and protect against disease. There is still much we do not know.

Sources

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