Importance of insects in nature and human life. The diversity of insects, their role in nature and human life - Knowledge Hypermarket Biological significance of insects

The role of insects is exceptionally large both in human life and in natural processes. Due to the fact that insects make up a significant proportion of the terrestrial fauna, they strongly influence the plant and animal world Earth. Insects are found in all areas of land, including deserts, high mountains and polar regions.

The existence of many insects is closely connected with the life of plants, as they consume living plants: roots, stems, leaves, fruits, seeds. During mass reproduction, insects destroy or damage plants over vast areas.

The role of insects in nature and human life is enormous

However, in addition to harm, insects are of great benefit to crop production as pollinators of flowering plants. In the course of evolution, a remarkable mutual fitness has developed between many insect species and flowering plants (for example, plants have various fixtures for pollination by certain insect species, and in insects, the length and shape of the proboscis strictly correspond to the structure of the flowers of the plants they pollinate).

Insects are destroyers of dead parts of plants. Many species of insects and their larvae, living in the ground, digging passages and loosening the ground, accelerate the formation of humus. Many vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) feed on insects at various stages of development.

In connection with human economic activity, it is important to preserve the species diversity of insects. The use of insecticides to control pests of agricultural and tree crops, plowing of land, due to which the number of some species is sharply reduced wild plants endangered the existence of some species of insects.

To protect endangered insects, special reserves are being created in our country, and many (about 20 species) are already listed in the Red Book. Among them are two types of praying mantises - predatory insects that feed on other insects, the mollusc beetle, the alpine barbel, the giant ktyr and several types of butterflies: the polyxena sailboat, Apollo, the dead head hawk moth, the proserpine hawk moth, the oak hawk moth, Saturnia-Aglia, Saturnia Minor, etc.

Biological pest control

To combat harmful insects, along with mechanical, chemical and agrotechnical methods, biological methods of control are increasingly being used, i.e. destruction of insects at all stages of development with the help of their natural enemies. Such insect enemies are frogs, toads, lizards, wild birds, shrews, hedgehogs, moles, bats, etc. Therefore, all these animals must be protected and, if possible, attracted to the fields, vegetable gardens, orchards. In recent years, poultry has also been increasingly used for pest control.

Pests and insects have many natural enemies. Great importance in the destruction of pests belongs to ichneumons and other insects. Ladybugs, for example, destroy aphids and other pests. Predatory beetles (ground beetles) hunt for gypsy moth caterpillars.

Previously, a lot of planned work was carried out on breeding and using various kinds insects for plant pest control.

In special laboratories, some types of ladybugs, riders, trichograms and other insects are bred in large numbers. They are released in those areas in which there is a massive appearance of pests. Biological pest control methods have a great future.

Abundance of insects

Insects- the most numerous class of animals, there are more than a million species of them. Calculations made by scientists showed that about 10 17 instances of insects live on Earth at the same time. Due to their abundance, insects play a very important role in nature and in human life.

Pattern: Insects with full metamorphosis - Ladybug, Colorado beetle, stag beetle, Far Eastern barbel, dung beetle, grave digger

In addition to the studied orders of insects, in nature the most common beetles, or Coleoptera having rigid front fenders. There are three main groups according to the nature of their diet. Firstly, these are predators that feed on various small animals, mainly insects. Such, for example, are brightly colored ladybugs. Some ladybugs are bred in laboratories and released into greenhouses and gardens to control aphids that damage agricultural plants. Secondly, they are consumers of decaying plant and animal remains. These include, for example, dead eaters and gravediggers who use animal corpses as food. Their larvae also feed on the same food. They are among the orderlies of nature: without them, the corpses of animals would decompose and infect the surrounding area. Thirdly, these are herbivorous beetles that consume all kinds of plant parts, including wood. This includes, for example, the cockchafer and other beetles, leaf beetles. The leaf beetle Colorado potato beetle settles en masse on potatoes, often eating all the tops on the bushes. It was introduced to Europe from North America. More than 300,000 species of beetles are known on Earth.

Drawing: insects with incomplete metamorphosis - song grasshopper, field cricket, red cockroach, crackling locust moth, bed bug, beautiful shiny dragonfly

We are all familiar with large slender insects - dragonflies. These are diurnal, very voracious predators, adapted to catch insects on the fly. All of them destroy a myriad of flies, mosquitoes and horseflies, and are of great benefit.

Figure: Human and rat fleas

Insect - a link in the food chain

Insects are an important link in food chains, that is, in food chains, as they are part of groups of organisms related to each other by the food-consumer relationship.

The soil-forming role of insects

In the course of their life activity, insects enrich the soil with organic and mineral substances. The larvae of beetles, butterflies and flies living in the soil take part in loosening the soil and mixing its layers.

The role of insects in plant pollination

Many flowering plants without pollination by insects cannot exist.

The biological significance of insects

domesticated insects

Domesticated insects are the silkworm and the honey bee.

Insects - laboratory animals

Thus, the Drosophila fruit fly from the Diptera order is the object of many biological studies.

Insects that harm humans

Of the vast number of insect species described (about 1,000,000), only a small part, about 1%, directly or indirectly harms humans.

Aesthetic value of insects

The aesthetic significance of insects lies in the fact that many striking beautiful butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, bumblebees and others evoke feelings of joy and admiration.

Drawing: rare species of insects listed in the Red Book - odorous krasotel, large oak barbel, Apollo, moss bumblebee, polyxena, large iridium

Insect protection

General characteristics of the class of insects

Insects are six-legged arthropods. Three sections are distinguished in their body: a head with mouth organs, one pair of antennae; a thorax with three pairs of legs, and an abdomen. Most insects have wings and are able to fly. They breathe with the help of trachea. The development of insects takes place with a change of two or three stages. Approximately 1.5 million species of insects are known.

Sushi. Their importance in the biogenic cycle is great.

Example 1

Insects saprophages (cockroaches, primary wingless) process plant remains. Xylophages feed on wood (bark beetles, termites, larvae of borers, barbels). In many insects, symbionts (flagellates, bacteria) live in the intestines, contributing to the digestion of fiber. Animal remains are eaten by kozheeds, mervoeds, dipteran larvae. Animal excrement is disposed of by dung beetles and dung beetles.

Remark 1

All insects saprophages and xylophages contribute to the formation of soil.

Large animals - reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals feed on insects. Almost all songbirds feed their offspring with insects. Insects are an important factor in the regulation of the population of both plants and animals. Phytophages destroy mainly weakened plants, as well as species that are not characteristic of these communities.

Example 2

Ants control the number of species inhabiting meadows, forests, and deserts. Ladybugs are able to suppress the number of homoptera insects (aphids). Lizhelitsy destroy arachnids, soil-dwelling insects, mollusks.

The coevolution of insects and angiosperms has led to mutual adaptations in phytophagy and pollination. Insects are the main pollinators of flowering plants and yields of berry and fruit crops depend on their activity. A large number of different species utilize dead organic material: wood, leaf litter, manure, etc.

The value of insects in human life

Man widely uses insects in order to obtain a variety of products:

  1. Beekeeping. Human use of honey in the food industry, in medicine - bee venom and propolis, in the perfume industry - bee milk.
  2. Sericulture. Silkworm caterpillars produce silk, which is used to make durable and fine fabrics. To obtain silk, oak silkworms and mulberry silkworms are bred.
  3. Insects are a source for obtaining paints, varnishes, medicinal substances.
  4. In many parts of the world, insects are used as a food or condiment.
  5. Drosophila flies are an important laboratory object in genetic studies.

Example 3

Natural varnish, shellac, is obtained from the special secrets secreted by varnish insects. Cantharidin is prepared from blister beetles (“Spanish fly”). Ararat cochineal is used to obtain red carmine dye.

Insect Biotechnology

Insects also play a negative role in people's lives. All negative impact provided by insects can be divided into several groups:

    Insects are plant pests. The most harmful species include polyphagous insects: Asian locust, Italian locust, click beetles, lepidoptera (shovels, meadow moth), dark beetles. For each group fruit - berry crops there is a composition of insect pests.

    Example 4

    The most important pests of the apple tree are: caterpillars of the apple moth, apple weevil, apple codling moth. Caterpillars of the gooseberry sawfly, larvae of the raspberry beetle, and phylloxera cause great harm to the berries.

    Pests of forest plantations. Among these pests, primary ones are distinguished, which damage fruits, leaves, flowers, and secondary ones, which damage weakened trees, their trunks and roots. Trees suffer from ringed and gypsy moth, pine sawfly, pitcher, weevils, leaf beetles, aphids, psyllids and many others.

"The importance of insects in nature and human life"


1. Abundance of insects


Insects are the most numerous class of animals with more than a million known species. Calculations made by scientists showed that about 1017 (100000000000000000) insect specimens live on Earth at the same time. Due to their abundance, insects play a very important role in nature and in human life.

In addition to the studied orders of insects, the most common in nature are beetles, or beetles, which have rigid forewings. There are three main groups according to the nature of their diet. Firstly, these are predators that feed on various small animals, mainly insects.

Such, for example, are brightly colored ladybugs. Some ladybugs are bred in laboratories and released into greenhouses and gardens to control aphids that damage agricultural plants. Secondly, they are consumers of decaying plant and animal remains. These include, for example, dead eaters and gravediggers who use animal corpses as food. Their larvae also feed on the same food. They are among the orderlies of nature: without them, the corpses of animals would decompose and infect the surrounding area. Thirdly, these are herbivorous beetles that consume all kinds of plant parts, including wood. This includes, for example, the cockchafer and other beetles, leaf beetles. The leaf beetle Colorado potato beetle settles en masse on potatoes, often eating all the tops on the bushes. It was brought to Europe and our country from North America. More than 300,000 species of beetles are known on Earth.



2. The value of insects in nature


The life of many insects is closely connected with the life of plants. Bumblebees, bees and flies pollinate flowering plants.

An important link in the food chain.

A huge army of these arthropods feeds on leaves, roots, stems and other organs and parts of plants, fruits and seeds, limiting their growth and development.

The soil-forming role of insects.

They feed on other insects, limit their numbers.

Biological suppression of insect pests.

Food for other animals: feeding on vegetable food, they themselves are the prey of other animals.

Aesthetic value: beautiful forms evoke feelings of joy and admiration.

Destroying corpses and manure, they perform a sanitary role.

Insects make up about 80% of all animals on Earth, according to various estimates, in the modern fauna there are from 2 to 10 million species of insects, of which just over 1 million are known so far. Actively participating in the circulation of substances, insects play a global planetary role in nature.

More than 80% of plants are pollinated by insects, and it is safe to say that the flower is the result of the joint evolution of plants and insects. The adaptations of flowering plants to attract insects are diverse: pollen, nectar, essential oils, aroma, shape and color of the flower. Adaptations of insects: sucking proboscis of butterflies, gnawing-licking proboscis of bees; special pollen-collecting apparatus - in bees and bumblebees, a brush and a basket on the hind legs, in megachil bees - an abdominal brush, numerous hairs on the legs and body.

Insects play an important role in soil formation. Such participation is associated not only with the loosening of the soil and its enrichment with humus by soil insects and their larvae, but also with the decomposition of plant and animal residues - plant litter, corpses and animal excrement, while the sanitary role and the circulation of substances in nature are performed.

The following types of insects perform a sanitary role:

coprophages - dung beetles, dung beetles, cowsheds;

Necrophages - dead-eaters, gravediggers, leather-eaters, meat-eating flies, scavengers;

Insects - destroyers of dead plant residues: wood, branches, leaves, needles - drill beetles, larvae of barbels, borers, horntails, centipede mosquitoes, carpenter ants, mushroom mosquitoes, etc .;

Insects - orderlies of reservoirs feed on suspended or decaying ones that have settled to the bottom organic matter(detritus) - larvae of twitching mosquitoes, or bells, mayflies, caddisflies, purify water and serve as a bioindicator of its sanitary condition.

3. Soil-forming role of insects


In the course of their life activity, insects enrich the soil with organic and mineral substances. The larvae of beetles, butterflies and flies living in the soil take part in loosening the soil and mixing its layers.

A significant number of insects (beetles, ants, etc.) live in the soil, which have a significant impact on the soil-forming process. Making numerous moves in the soil, they loosen the soil and improve its physical and water properties. Insects, actively participating in the processing of plant residues, enrich the soil with humus and minerals.


.Plant pollinators


Many flowering plants cannot exist without pollination by insects.


The most important in the formation of the evolution of entomophilous plants were the most diverse representatives of Hymenoptera, in particular bees. Bees have retained their leading role in cross-pollination of cultivated plants.

Not all insects that visit flowers for nectar are good for cross-pollination. Insects such as beetles, bugs, aphids and others, although they feast on nectar, do more harm than good to plants.

Butterflies play a very insignificant role in the pollination of flowers, and among the hymenoptera, short-proboscis wasps, oysters, gall wasps, riders and sawflies. Among the wild representatives of the entomofauna, bumblebees, solitary bees, certain species of true wasps and flower flies are of significant importance as pollinators. Moreover, each of these groups is of interest for the pollination of plants of certain species. For example, that long-proboscis bumblebees are more successful than other insects in pollinating red clover flowers. Individual representatives of solitary bees are well adapted to opening flowers and pollinating alfalfa. Flower flies are most successful in pollinating carrot seed plants. However, the number of wild insects changes dramatically in different years, not to mention the fact that due to the plowing of boundary lines, empty lands and the massive introduction of chemical measures to combat pests and plant diseases, the number of wild pollinators is sharply reduced. At present, especially in areas of intensive agriculture, their role as pollinators is reduced to almost zero.

The main role in the pollination of agricultural entomophilous crops belongs to honey bees, the structure and lifestyle of which in the process of evolution the best way adapted to this function. They live in large families, the number of which during the flowering period of the most important honey plants reaches several tens of thousands.

Each bee family during the year spends about 200 kg of honey and about 20-25 kg of plant pollen for its nutrition and rearing of brood. To collect this amount of honey, the bees of each colony must visit over 500 million flowers, each containing 0.5 mg of nectar. Almost the same number of flower visits are required to collect pollen. Thus, a strong bee colony visits over a billion flowers per season - this is the real volume of pollination work of each strong colony during the year. No other insect species can compare with the honey bee in terms of the amount of pollination work carried out. But it's not just about numbers. It is very important that honey bees winter in large families. In the spring, when the number of wild insects - pollinators is very small (in the bumblebee family, for example, only the queen female remains), and the bee colony can send a 10 thousandth army of flying bees to collect nectar and pollen, the number of which, as the number of flowering plants increases increases every day.

While many species of solitary bees are monotrophic (they visit the flowers of plants of only one genus or species) or oligotrophic (they visit the flowers of a number of species of the same family), the honey bee, as a polytrophic insect, collects nectar and pollen from all entomophilous plants available to it, belonging to different families, genera and species. At the same time, worker bees quickly switch to visiting entire arrays of plants of various species during their mass flowering, that is, at the time of the greatest need for pollinators. To load the honey goiter in one flight, the bee must visit, depending on the nectar productivity of plants, 80-150 flowers. The bee must visit the same number of flowers to collect pollen and form pollen. Two pollen bees weighing about 15-20 mg contain over 3 million pollen grains. Thousands of pollen grains of different quality stick to the body of the bee, covered with hair, during repeated visits to the flowers, which are transferred to the stigma of the pistils. Moreover, each flower is visited by bees during its life, usually not alone, but many times. Thus, best conditions for selective pollination and fertilization. That is why, in the conditions of modern intensive agriculture, only the correct organization of pollination of entomophilous crops by bees serves necessary element agrotechnical complex to obtain high yields, improve product quality and reduce its cost.


5. The value of insects in human life


In the life and economic activity of a person, they have both positive and negative significance.

Of the more than 1 million species of insects, the real pests that need to be controlled are about 1%. The bulk of insects are indifferent to humans or are beneficial. Domesticated insects - honey bee and silkworm, beekeeping and sericulture are based on their breeding. The honey bee produces honey, wax, propolis (bee glue), apilac (bee venom), royal jelly; silkworm - a silk thread secreted by the caterpillar's spinning glands during the construction of a cocoon, the silk thread is continuous, up to 1000 m in length. In addition to these insects, the following are valuable products: caterpillars of the oak cocoon moth, their coarser silk thread is used to make flaky fabric; lac bugs secrete shellac, a waxy substance with insulating properties used in radio and electrical engineering; carmine worms (Mexican and Ararat cochineal) give red carmine dye; blister beetles secrete the caustic substance cantharidin, which is used to make a blister patch.

Insect pollinators, representatives of many orders, among which an important place is occupied by hymenoptera, increase the yields of seeds, berries, fruits, flowers of many cultivated plants- fruit and berry, vegetable, fodder, flower.

The Drosophila fruit fly, due to its fecundity and reproduction rate, is not only a classic object of genetics research, but also one of the ideal experimental animals for biological research in space. Fossil insects are used in stratigraphy to determine the age of sedimentary rocks.



6. Insects causing harm to humans


Of the vast number of insect species described (about 1,000,000), only a small part, about 1%, directly or indirectly harms humans.

The aesthetic significance of insects lies in the fact that many striking beautiful butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, bumblebees and others evoke feelings of joy and admiration.

Insect pest - Insects that can cause death or harm to humans, their pets, food supplies, or other plant products. The term is also applied to many insects that are more of a nuisance to humans than a serious threat. Insect pests that cause serious harm to human health are of particular importance in countries with a warm climate and in the tropics, of which the most dangerous mosquitoes. They carry pathogens of various forms of malaria, yellow fever, and other dangerous diseases. Fleas transmit bubonic plague to humans from rats. Insects that harm domestic animals include tsetse flies, gadflies, lice, stingers and lice. Each type of plant used by humans has its own insect pests that eat either the whole plant or parts of it. Roots feed on beetles, wireworms (larvae of click beetles), and other insects. Among insect pests that feed on aboveground parts of plants, aphids, scale insects and locusts are of the greatest importance, but many caterpillars also cause significant harm.

An example of insects that annoy humans are mosquitoes biting in summer, midges and stinging wasps. Domestic pests are cockroaches, silverfish, clothes moths and bed bugs; none of them are dangerously deadly, but it is believed that almost all of them can threaten human health.



7. Beneficial insects


Ladybug seven-spotted (Coccinella septempunc-tata L.). A small black beetle, 6-8 mm long, with red elytra, on which 7 black caugle spots are clearly visible, thanks to which the insect got its name. Beetles fly well, with amazing accuracy they find colonies of aphids, which they greedily eat. Immediately on the leaves or branches, the females lay heaps of yellow shiny eggs. Small black six-legged larvae emerge from them, which immediately begin to eat aphids, like adults. Where the cows settled, aphids are completely destroyed. Such a picture can often be observed in gardens, berry fields and fruit nurseries. Beetles hibernate in crevices of buildings, under fallen leaves, in bough grass and other places. In early spring, after overwintering, they leave their shelters, crawl out onto trees and begin to eat pests. AT favorable years ladybugs (they are also called ladybugs) multiply rapidly and eat not only aphids, but also other small pests. In search of food and water, they accumulate en masse near water bodies, on the coast of the seas, on rocks, crawl along roads, where a large number of them die under the feet of passers-by. At such times, cows should be saved from death, collected in special boxes made of thick mesh and stored in refrigerators or in basements in cold places in order to release them on plants damaged by aphids in the spring.

Two-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata L.). Beetle 3-4 mm long, with red elytra, on which there are 2 black round spots. Lives and eats in the same way as the seven-spot cow.

Bandaged Sirphus (Syrphus ribesii L.K. Diptera, black with bright yellow bands on the abdomen. By appearance more like a wasp than a fly. Body length 11 -12 mm. The female looks for colonies of aphids and lays eggs on the leaves damaged by them. The eggs hatch into yellowish or greenish legless larvae resembling a tiny leech. The larvae are very voracious: each eats up to 2000 aphids during their life.

Lacewing (Chrvsopa perla L.). A delicate bluish-green slender insect with four transparent wings, golden eyes and long antennae. Body length 12-15, wingspan 25-30 mm. Lays oblong emerald eggs on the leaves and stems of plants damaged by aphids. After a few days, grayish six-legged larvae emerge from the eggs. They run fast and grab aphids with their long sharp jaws, suck them out, leaving only the skins that pile up on the backs of the larvae. From the skins of aphids, lacewing larvae make cocoons for themselves before pupation. Adult lacewings overwinter indoors. With impending danger, the lacewing emits a persistent unpleasant odor that scares off enemies.

Ktyr (Selidopogon diadema F.). A predatory two-winged insect that looks like a fly. Male black, with brownish transparent wings; the female is brown, with a yellowish-brown pattern on the chest and abdomen, gray wings with a yellow base. Body length 18-22 mm. It feeds on insects, piercing them with a hard proboscis and sucking out the lymph. Often catches pests on the fly. It occurs on leaves and on soil in gardens, fields and vegetable gardens, where it watches for prey. The larvae also feed on insects living in the soil.

Dragonfly (Leptetrum quadrimaculatum L.). Predatory insect, with large complex eyes occupying most of the surface of the head, strong gnawing mouthparts and two pairs of transparent long narrow wings with a dense network of veins. The wings of a dragonfly are always perpendicular to the body. They fly very fast, catching many small insects on the fly, especially mosquitoes, midges, moths and other pests, which are of great benefit to humans. The larvae live in ponds, rivers and feed on small aquatic animals. There are about 200 species of dragonflies in the USSR.

8. Insect pests of the field and garden


Insect pests of the field and garden - that's enough serious problem. Currently, there are a huge number of different types of insect pests that are ready to destroy our crops. They damage both young plantings and adult plants. In order to protect your crop from pests, you need to know them.


9. Types of insect pests


Insects are a large class, including over a million different species:

orthopterans

homoptera

hymenoptera

Diptera.

Insects are divided into groups that damage different parts of plants:

pests that damage the root system of plants

pests of seedlings and seedlings

aerial pests

foliage and shoot pests.

The greatest harm to gardens and fields is caused by mass reproduction of insect pests - locusts, aphids, butterflies, beetles. Locusts are especially harmful, they are the most voracious. The offspring of one female can eat 300 kg of plants in her life! Locusts form swarms of up to ten billion individuals, 120 km long. Such a flock can fly 2000 km without stopping!


10. Description of the most common pests

orthopteran insect plant

The underground parts of plants - tubers, bulbs, roots and rhizomes - are damaged by bears, larvae of May beetles, grasshoppers, some types of flies, caterpillars of some species of butterflies.

The rudiments and seeds of plants suffer from the invasion of voracious bugs, beetles, weevils, beetle larvae and butterflies.

Ground parts of plants are damaged by Colorado beetles, beet weevils, grasshopper beetles.

The Colorado potato beetle is especially dangerous for potatoes. During the summer, two or three generations of beetles grow. Both beetles and larvae feed on potato leaves. An adult beetle and its larvae can destroy 100 thousand potato bushes in a season!

The beetroot weevil does the most damage to beets. From eggs laid by females, worm-like larvae develop, which feed on beet roots.

Click beetles harm many plants. The larvae of click beetles are called wireworms. They are practically omnivorous, affecting potatoes, carrots, beets, daikon, radishes, root parsley. They also harm melon plants - watermelons, melons, pumpkins and zucchini.

Huge damage to fields and gardens is brought by whites and winter scoops. White caterpillars feed on plants of the Cabbage family. Caterpillars of the winter scoop destroy the seeds and sprouts that have appeared.

Some flies also harm field and garden plants. Onion fly females infect onions and garlic. They lay their eggs on the ground near these plants. The emerging larvae crawl into the bulbs, into the leaves, eat out numerous passages in them. Soon the plants will turn yellow and dry.

Larvae of cabbage and carrot flies cause great harm to radishes, celery, root parsley, carrots, plants of the Cabbage family.

Ripe fruits of wheat, rye and barley suffer from the invasion of the corn beetle. Adult beetles eat grains. One beetle destroys 9-10 ears.



Bibliography


.Biology: Animals: Proc. for 7 cells. avg. school / B. E. Bykhovsky, E. V. Kozlova, A. S. Monchadsky and others; Under. ed. M. A. Kozlova. - 23rd ed. - M.: Education, 2003. - 256 p.: ill.

.. Insects in nature, Vorontsov P.T., Leningrad, "NEVA", 1988

.Life of insects, FabrZh.A., Moscow, "TERRA", 1993.

.Determinant of insects, N.N.Plavilshchikov, 1994.

.Morals of insects, Fabre J.A., 1993.

.Secrets of the world of insects, Grebennikov V., 1990


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>>Diversity of insects, their role in nature and human life

§ 35. The diversity of insects, their role in nature and human life

Abundance of insects.

Insects are the most numerous class of animals with more than a million known species. Calculations made by scientists showed that about 1017 (100000000000000000) insect specimens live on Earth at the same time. Due to their abundance, insects play a very important role in nature and in human life.

Insects are laboratory animals.

Thus, the Drosophila fruit fly from the Diptera order is the object of many biological studies.

Insects that harm humans.

Of the vast number of insect species described (about 1,000,000), only a small part, about 1%, directly or indirectly harms humans.

The aesthetic significance of insects lies in the fact that many striking beautiful butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, bumblebees and others evoke feelings of joy and admiration.

Insect protection.

General characteristics of the class of insects.

Insects are six-legged arthropods. Three sections are distinguished in their body: a head with mouth organs, one pair of antennae; a thorax with three pairs of legs, and an abdomen. Most insects have wings and are able to fly. They breathe with the help of trachea. The development of insects takes place with a change of two or three stages. Approximately 1.5 million species of insects are known.

1 Why are insects important in nature?
2. What is the importance of beetles in nature?
3. Name predatory insects and reveal their significance in nature.
4. Find information about the practical significance of insects in the text of the paragraph and fill in the table:

The value of insects in human life and its economic activity

insect name
Meaning

5. Why is biological suppression of arthropods harmful to humans beneficial?
6. How do insects harm a person (himself and in his economic activity)?

Biology: Animals: Proc. for 7 cells. avg. school / B. E. Bykhovsky, E. V. Kozlova, A. S. Monchadsky and others; Under. ed. M. A. Kozlova. - 23rd ed. - M.: Education, 2003. - 256 p.: ill.

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