For vertebrates, insects are infrastructure as well as food
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
A new review assembles evidence that vertebrates use insects not only as prey but as construction material, shelter, protection, sanitation and medicinal resources, among other functions. The synthesis broadens the ecological consequences of insect decline beyond the familiar loss of a food resource.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Insect conservation can have second-order effects that food-web metrics alone miss. Monitoring only biomass or prey availability may overlook behavioral and material dependencies that matter to vertebrate reproduction, hygiene or habitat use.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is a broad evidence synthesis assembled from heterogeneous examples rather than a standardized global estimate of dependence. The prevalence and demographic importance of individual interaction types remain unevenly documented.
SOURCE
Nature Reviews Biodiversity — review
View original evidence ↗
A new review catalogs insect roles in shelter, sanitation, medicine, nesting material, protection and other relationships that conventional food-web framing can miss.
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