“Planet of the Insects”

Tristan Kubik (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Graduate Program)

If you don’t like insects, then you’re living on the wrong planet. Earth is likely home to over ten million species of insects. Compared to the 5,000 or so mammal species and the 20,000 or so plant species, insect biodiversity vastly overshadows all other life on our planet. Furthermore, there are close to 10 quintillion insects estimated to be alive this very second. That’s more than 111 million creepy crawlies for every single one of the 9 billion humans alive today.

Insects eat everything, do everything, and without them, life on land could not exist. Insects are important pollinators, they take care of life’s waste and dead organic material, and support every terrestrial ecosystem they occur in. But not all insects are allies. Insect pests are our number one competitor for food, blood-sucking insects have killed more humans than all the wars, famines, and natural disasters combined, and bugs constantly invade our homes and spoil our goods.

So why are insects so successful? What has driven their massive diversity? How old are insects? And what are some of the ways we humans have figured out how to coexist with the true overlords of planet Earth? Join Tristan Kubik, a zany entomologist, as he introduces you to the marvelous microcosm of insects and show you that, contrary to what we would like to believe, insects truly are the dominant form of life on planet Earth.

Science Under the Stars has gone virtual! This semester all SUTS activities will be online, but they encourage you to participate outdoors under the stars in your backyard! (If wifi allows for it, of course.)

Here’s the schedule for this month’s event:

• November 5th: Links to the kids activities and live online lecture/Q&A will be posted here and as an event on the Science Under the Stars Facebook page.
• November 12th, 7:00pm CST: Live online lecture and Q&A with the speaker!