Insect biodiversity is very large and they are responsible for more than half of the population of eukaryote on the planet. It is approximately 900,000 species of insects have been described and recorded. Insects belong to phylum Arthropoda and class Insecta. Five orders of insects with high species richness include Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera. Insects basic morphology are three pairs of legs, a segmented body divided into three (head, thorax and abdomen) or two, exoskeleton and for some species, they usually have wings.
The biodiversity of insects is undervalued nowadays when in fact, insects have major roles in the continuity of variety of living organisms. Ecosystem degradation, overexploitation, water pollution, …show more content…
For eon, insects have supply unique natural products, they regulate the population densities of many potential pest species, they dispose of our wastes, bury the dead, recycle organic nutrients and maintain the population of other species at stable level. As consumers, scavengers, pollinators and decomposers, insects play a vital role in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients besides becoming an important food source for a wide variety of other animal species. In some places like Thailand, Mexico, Laos and China, edible insects such as grasshopper, crickets and giant water bugs are collected and some may be harvested for human consumption and feedstock for …show more content…
Increasing extensive livestock production plays a critical role in land degradation, climate change, water pollution and biodiversity loss. In order to meet the increasing demand, harvesting domesticated, small animals, including arthropods, as food and feed (mini-livestock) should be considered. Mini-livestock offers more benefits than livestock because it can reduce greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, feed more efficiently to body mass than do conventional livestock, minimize the zoonotic infections such as H1N1 and require less water usage. For some countries, they already started harvesting most edible insects in the wild. Honey bees and silkworms have been domesticated for a very long time because of their by-products and they can also be eaten. Others include the house cricket, the palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), the giant water bug (Lethocerus indicus) in Thailand, and water beetles in China that are commercially farmed for human
The biodiversity of insects is undervalued nowadays when in fact, insects have major roles in the continuity of variety of living organisms. Ecosystem degradation, overexploitation, water pollution, …show more content…
For eon, insects have supply unique natural products, they regulate the population densities of many potential pest species, they dispose of our wastes, bury the dead, recycle organic nutrients and maintain the population of other species at stable level. As consumers, scavengers, pollinators and decomposers, insects play a vital role in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients besides becoming an important food source for a wide variety of other animal species. In some places like Thailand, Mexico, Laos and China, edible insects such as grasshopper, crickets and giant water bugs are collected and some may be harvested for human consumption and feedstock for …show more content…
Increasing extensive livestock production plays a critical role in land degradation, climate change, water pollution and biodiversity loss. In order to meet the increasing demand, harvesting domesticated, small animals, including arthropods, as food and feed (mini-livestock) should be considered. Mini-livestock offers more benefits than livestock because it can reduce greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, feed more efficiently to body mass than do conventional livestock, minimize the zoonotic infections such as H1N1 and require less water usage. For some countries, they already started harvesting most edible insects in the wild. Honey bees and silkworms have been domesticated for a very long time because of their by-products and they can also be eaten. Others include the house cricket, the palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), the giant water bug (Lethocerus indicus) in Thailand, and water beetles in China that are commercially farmed for human