News reports of a looming mass extinction of insects have little basis in reality, but that doesn't mean bugs are in the clear, according to a recent statement Entomological Society of America.

ESA is an Annapolis, Md.-based professional society for entomologists, or scientists who study insects. The group was responding to media reports about a recent study suggesting many insect populations could die out within a century. The study has been criticized by other scientists but not before multiple headlines boldly announced that an "insect apocalypse" was almost upon us.

Some people might welcome a world without insects but the reality is they are critical to nearly every ecosystem on the planet, according to ESA. Still, projections of a looming mass extinction are premature as there is a lack of good data to make such a claim.

"There is an urgent need for more data, particularly longitudinal studies, research that looks at insect population changes over time," said the president of ESA's board, Robert Peterson. "Without more study to clarify the geographic scope and magnitude of insect declines, we quite simply don't know what we don't know."

Scientists are seeing troubling indicators that "all is not well" with insects, ESA noted. Human actions are putting insect populations under stress.

"Many insect species are under incredible pressure from human intervention through human-driven climate and landscape changes, such as urbanization, suburbanization and agricultural intensification," Peterson said. "Recent media headlines reporting an imminent insect apocalypse are alarming, but mask a second and very real danger: There is way too much that we don't yet know about insects and the life that depends upon them." http://bit.ly/2SeMBmT

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