Phys.com April 27, 2023 The continuing decline in the diversity and biomass of insects and other arthropods has caused great concern not only among scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders. A major reason for this is that many ecosystem services depend on diverse insect communities. Despite numerous studies on the dynamics of insect communities their causes are still not fully understood. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany) addressed the causes and consequences of population and diversity trends spanning 10 to 120 years aiming at a better mechanistic understanding of the observed dynamics. covering freshwater and terrestrial insect taxa across five biomes. […]
Tag Archives: Insect borne diseases
Scientists engineer mosquitoes that can’t spread malaria
Phys.org September 21, 2022 An international team of researchers (UK, USA – industry) has genetic modification that causes mosquitoes to produce compounds in their guts that stunt the growth of parasites, that are unlikely to reach the mosquitoes’ salivary glands and pass it on before the insects die. The technique reduced the possibility of malaria spread in a lab setting, and if proven safe and effective in real-world settings it could be a powerful new tool to help eliminate malaria. It can be coupled with existing “gene drive” technology to spread the modification and drastically cut malaria transmission. Only around […]