The impact of bush fires on Australia's insects

[Catherine]

We have talked about the many species impacted by the out of control bush fires in Australia. The situation is very serious. Many species and even whole ecosystems are at risk.  Now rivers are being threatened by ash filled rain water.
Could it get any worse?  YES!   What about the loss of insect life. There is no doubt that insects will have died in the fires.
The impact of this has not been fully studied. It is not even clear how much insect life has been lost. The long term effects are unknown, but they are not likely to be good. Every part of the ecosystems that are insect dependent are going to be negatively impacted. Recovery of habitats is going to require recovery of insect populations. Is this even possible. Again, we don't know.


www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2020/01/we-need-to-talk-about-the-impact-the-bushfires-are-having-on-insects/?fbclid=IwAR2MAgnlrrtdx2WGDL_Fs8HsTGaRZBV_Qj2GOubs6o4MfhFWTfDuIsgyv6A...%20%C2%A0%3Ca%20class=

When you add this to all the other losses this is more than we can take in at one time. Where do we begin to help? 
This is a global emergency and I hope we are willing to treat it as such and respond on a level that can actually do some good.

[Catslave]

Insects have an impact on the ecosystem it's the cycle of life remove too much of one thing it upsets the balance of nature.

[Catherine]

When all the fires are over and things start to grow again it is going to be hard to restore the balance if too many of  the insects are gone. It will take years for things to regenerate. Insects are a vital part of that.  I don't know if there is any way to help restore the insect population.