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March 27, 2019 Wednesday 09:10:55 AM IST

Insects Vanishing from Science Textbooks

A new study report in American Entomologist stated that representation of insects in science text books is declining and replaced by vertebrates.

Insects play an important part in the human food chain and also contribute to spreading of disease. Researchers of North Carolina University who analysed 88 introductory text books in biology for the period 1907 to 2016 found that mention of insects is declining. A science text book of the early 1900s had mention of insects in 32.6 pages on an average. But text books published in 2000-16 period had only an average of 5.67 pages devoted to insects. Illustrations or other visuals of insects have also declined.

Several reasons are attributed to decline in insect representation including increased focus on cell biology and genetics, insects being portrayed as tormentors rather than friendly species apart from decline in curiosity of children for the natural world.

Source: https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/64/4/252/5232713?searchresult=1