TNCMaine_Summer26 - Flipbook - Page 4
Small Creatures, Big Impact
Addressing invasive insects to support ecological well-being
For most people, insects live at the intersection of fascination and
discomfort, science and storytelling, public good and public . . .
squeamishness. They’re also at the heart of one of the most
important conservation conversations we can have right now.
Insects are critically important contributors to our ecosystems.
They pollinate 昀氀owering plants, recycle nutrients, aerate soils, feed
birds, 昀椀sh, and bats, and keep ecological systems running with the
quiet reliability of a job you only notice when it stops getting done.
In one TNC estimate, insects provide $57 billion in annual economic
value in the United States, and roughly three-quarters of 昀氀owering
plants rely on insect pollinators for reproduction. If you’ve ever
eaten a blueberry, marveled at a warbler in spring, watched trout
rise in a stream, or walked through a forest that smelled like living
earth—there are insects involved in that experience.
Researchers have been sounding alarms about insect declines for
years. While boom-and-bust cycles are part of insect biology—and
not every study shows the same trend everywhere—the overall
Nancy Olmstead, TNC in Maine’s Conservation Ecologist,
and Jon Bailey, TNC in Maine’s Southern Maine Preserves
Manager, release “combat beetles” at the Tatnic Hills
Preserve, with the hopes of reducing the population of
the invasive wooly hemlock adelgid. © Clark Tate/TNC
4 | The Nature Conservancy in Maine
