Ecological Risks
Since arthropods constitute the majority of the faunal biomass on Earth, their role is vital to the survival of large numbers of insectivores and other animals that prey upon arthropods. This includes enormous numbers of mammals, avafauna, fishes, reptiles and amphibians; in addition, arthropods constitute the bulk of faunal pollinators, so that the survival of crops as well as millions of natural flora species depend on robust and biologically diverse arthropod populations.
The survival of diverse arthropods is essential to propagation of higher animals on the food chain, e.g. those species who prey upon the insectivores and other taxa that consume arthropods. Even if constant arthropod total biomass results after certain arthropod extinctions, the ecosystem stability is compromised by reduction in species numbers. Thus extinction of arthropods species threaten to make extinct hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of higher order birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Read more about this topic: Endangered Arthropod
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