Importance+of+Arthropods

= Importance of Arthropods for the Improvement and Maintenance of the Earth’s Ecosystem =


 * Pollination **: Many different arthropod species are responsible for pollinating plants. While many plants can pollinate themselves as a last resort, it is beneficial for the plant species to have their pollen moved to another plant for fertilization. When plants reproduce sexually, they are less genetically inbred, and therefore display less deleterious mutations and are more able to adapt to changing environments. Since many arthropods are essential to the reproductive success of plants, they are vitally important to the success of our ecosystem. Plants are the foundation of the food chain, all other life depends on plants directly or indirectly for food. Without plants, all species of animals would die out. Additionally, if these pollinating arthropods disappeared, or greatly reduced, workers would have to be hired to pollinate the plants manually. This could double the cost of our food prices, as the wages for these human workers would have to be paid. Arthropods are a major backbone in promotion of plant health, and without them, our human food supply would diminish drastically, become extremely expensive, or disappear entirely.




 * Insect Control: ** Several different arthropod species feed on insects. For instance, spiders often feed on insects that get caught in their webs. Some of these insects may include bugs such as mosquitoes which can be a vector for diseases such as malaria, or bugs that feed on crops. An overabundance of certain bugs could drastically reduce our ability to support our agricultural economy, and could leave us hungry. Arthropods naturally control these insect populations, keeping disease and crop damage lower without the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides that could have additional and unwanted environmental consequences.




 * Biological Materials **: Many different arthropods supply us with their biological materials to support our economy, and advance our technology. Silk worms provide us with the silk they spin to create expensive fabric that is highly valuable to the textiles industries throughout the globe. In fact, silk became such a desirable commodity throughout history, that a historically significant trade route was referred to ask the “silk road”. On the Silk Road, many different cultures interacted, information was exchanged, and wars on trading rights and locations began, all because people really liked the fabric little silkworms could make! Bees make honey, which support many different farmer families throughout the world, and provide us with something sweet to put on the foods we eat. The webs spiders spin are so incredible, that humans have not yet been able to reproduce the strength and elasticity of spider webs to use for purposes in science and engineering. It has actually been suggested that spider silk could be used to make highly effective bulletproof vests for military and police forces due to its strength and elasticity.



Works Cited 1. [|Cosmato, Donna. "The Ecological Importance of Arthropods - Know the Economic Benefits of Diversity." //Bright Hub//. N.p., 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. .]

2. "History of Silk." //History of Silk//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. .

3. Holland, Nick. "The economic value of honeybees." //BBC News//. BBC, 23 Apr. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. .

4. Kang, Soyoung. "Illumin - Biomimetics: Engineering Spider Silk." //Illumin - Biomimetics: Engineering Spider Silk//. Version Volume XIV Issue III. Illumin, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. <http://illumin.usc.edu/printer/13/biomimetics-engineering-spider-silk/>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Visnjic, Filip. //Silk worm spinning silk//. N.d. Creative Applications, London. . Web. 9 Nov. 2013.