Insectageddon

More or Less: Behind the Stats

Insects live all around us and if a recent scientific review is anything to go by, then they are on the path to extinction. The analysis found that more than 40 percent of insect species are decreasing and that a decline rate of 2.5 percent a year suggests they could disappear in one hundred years. And as some headlines in February warned of the catastrophic collapse of nature, some More or Less listeners questioned the findings. Is insect life really in trouble?

Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Darin Graham

(Image: Hairy hawker dragonfly. Credit: Science Photo Library)