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<ul><li>Mumbai based-Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence has received a $2 million grant from Google to create AI-based technologies to reduce crop losses. </li><li>Google Cloud and AI experts will also provide credit and consulting to Wadhwani Institute, which is among 20 recipients of the grant. </li><li>The project by Wadhwani can classify and count pests based on photos of pest traps clicked by farmers.</li></ul>Mumbai based-Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence has received a $2 million grant from Google to create AI-based technologies that could help reduce crop losses in cotton farming, through integrated pest management. Apart from this, Google Cloud and AI experts will also provide credit and consulting to Wadhwani Institute, which is among 20 recipients of the grant. Called the "Google AI Impact Challenge," Google invited nonprofits, social enterprises and research institutions to submit ideas on how to use AI to help address societal challenges. Around 20 organisations would be sharing a $25 million grant by Google for “changing the world with AI. Wadhwani’s project runs on a basic smartphone. It can classify and count pests based on photos of pest traps clicked by farmers. According to the Institute, the AI program can provide instant and localised advice that would help them in reducing cross loss. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="“We received thousands of applications to the Google AI Impact Challenge and are excited that Wadhwani AI was selected to receive funding and expertise from Google. AI is at a nascent stage when it comes to the value it can have for the social impact sector, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of this work and considering where there is potential for use to do even more.”" auname="Jacquelline Fuller, President of Google.org"></div>



 Indian-American tech billionaire brothers Sunil and Romesh Wadhwani founded the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Mumbai in February 2018 with an idea to dedicate $3 million each year for the next ten years to develop artificial intelligence (AI) for social good. According to Raghu Dharmaraju, VP Products and Programs, small farmers are dependent on government and other non-profit programs at every step of the crop cycle. We can help millions of farmers by resolving all the systematic challenges in large scale programmes.

This Indian institute just won a $2 million grant from Google to create AI tech for pest control

Just in case you had this notion that startups in India meant ecommerce sites with some flash sale and discounts, here’s <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword> -based FlyBird Innovation to prove you wrong. The weather experts having forecasted a drop in amount of rainfall this season, farmers in southern states of the country were having sleepless nights, that is until FlyBird came to their rescue, with their own brand of innovative irrigation solutions. 
 These technology startups are helping to reduce water usage by almost 40%, according to the Economic Times. Karnataka being a <keyword id="196094" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="leading-producer">leading producer</keyword> of coconuts requires plenty of water as coconut plants are guzzlers. An increasing number of startups is developing much-needed and affordable solutions for farmers across the agricultural cycle - for eliminating pests, smarter irrigation, precise weather forecasting, and improving yields - that could help three-fifths of India's 1.2 billion people who are dependent on monsoon rains. 
 
"Our solution for precise irrigation also increases crop yield and gives farmers higher returns by 10-15%," said Saitsh KS, founder of FlyBird. At a price of Rs 16,000-Rs 28,000, the firm's technology costs about one-third of similar US and Israeli variants, he said. 
 For the farmers, the <keyword id="25450" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="savings">savings</keyword> are more fundamental. "A coconut plant requires 100 litres of water a day. With the earlier flooding system I would overuse water by as much 1,000 litres. Now this extra water can be used for other crops,” a <keyword id="48857" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Farmer">farmer</keyword> told ET. 
 Farmers can also look up to Skymet Weather Services for a more accurate telling of the weather. The private forecaster - using a system that is a combination of historical data and high speed computing - has been closer to actual rainfall in the past three years than the <keyword id="55209" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Meteorological-Department">Indian Meteorological Department</keyword>. The Noida-based firm has also facilitated crop <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> claims for 13-15 million farmers, said Jatin Singh, <keyword id="1542630" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="founder-and-chief-executive">founder and chief executive</keyword>. 
 For pest control, Bengaluru-based <keyword id="2888712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Barrix">Barrix</keyword> has developed phermone-based traps and sticky sheets. "Farmers spend Rs 1,500-3,000 per spray per acre of land with commercially available pesticides. Even then pests get resistance and come back and damage crops," said Lokesh Makam, founder and <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword>, adding that Barrix has sold its products to 60,000 farmers across 16 states. 
 "There is a huge upside to improve productivity by using non-traditional technologies, i.e., bringing other functional expertise into agriculture viz-a-viz IT, analytics, data, sensors, pharmaceutical concepts, etc," Jinesh Shah, founding partner, <keyword id="1873742" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Omnivore-Partners">Omnivore Partners</keyword>, an agriculture-focused <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> firm that has backed both Skymet and Barrix told the financial daily. "The marriage of these technologies to solve agriculture problems can be fruitful for investors going forward." 
 
(Image: Wikimedia)

Startups in Bengaluru are helping coconut farmers in a very innovative way

This writer has an unreasonable(?) fear of cockroaches. Any views shared here are hers alone and do not reflect the platform’s or general humanity’s sentiments on the insect. Let me start off by asserting that roaches are creatures with ‘very’ limited real-world use, put on Earth purely to torment us. There are few things as horrible as watching that nasty bug skittering across your kitchen in the middle of the night. And while many of us blamed the British for bringing roaches to India over 200 years ago, a new study indicates that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Today, roaches are striking terror in every continent of the world except for Antarctica (one reason to move there). <keyword id="21843481" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="German-cockroaches" source="keywords">German cockroaches</keyword> (<keyword id="21843489" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="blattella-germanica" source="Orion">Blattella germanica</keyword>), in particular, are among the most common household pests worldwide. Chances are, if you see a light brown coloured roach with two dark stripes on its back in some public place, it’s a German cockroach. But what’s puzzling about these insects is that as commonplace as they are in human-built structures, they’re completely absent from any natural habitats. This is what drove scientists to dig into the subject and determine once and for all the story behind the origin and near world dominion of these pesky species. And the revelations are gut punches. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="German cockroaches evolved in India?" comment="subhead" text="German cockroaches evolved in India?">German cockroaches evolved in India? </cmsannotation>Scientists sampled DNA from 281 German cockroaches from 17 countries across all six human-inhabited continents. What they found was that, despite their names, they had very little European in them and were actually more desi. The genetic makeup of the German cockroach was nearly identical to its Asian counterpart (Blattella asahinai) from the Bay of Bengal. More specifically, over 80% of their samples matched the Asian ones perfectly, with just the remaining 20% differing. As per the study’s authors, these ‘German’ roaches evolved from Blattella asahinai roughly 2,100 years ago, likely by adapting to human settlements in India or Myanmar! Like many other species, B. asahinai migrated from Indian fields to buildings as farmers began clearing their natural habitat, becoming more and more dependent on humans. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="But how did they spread world-wide?" comment="subhead" text="But how did they spread world-wide?">But how did they spread world-wide? </cmsannotation>Time for the second gutting. Cockroaches did not hike everywhere themselves, and mainly hitched a ride with us. Yep. Another DNA analysis revealed two routes that the bugs might’ve taken. The first one was to West Asia around 1,200 years ago, “coinciding with various Islamic dynasties”. The second one was about 390 years ago, “coinciding with the European colonial period,” probably aided by the Dutch and British East India Companies. The German cockroach did not appear anywhere close to the country until around 270 years ago. The progress we made in terms of transport, like the steam engine, trade globalisation and the plumbing and heating provided in houses, all might’ve made it very easy for the cockroach to colonise the entire world between the late 1800s and early 1900s. However, being public enemy number one to humans wasn't exactly a recipe for success. To survive, these roach invaders had to become masters of disguise. The German cockroach took to the night and began to avoid well-lit areas. Interestingly, they ditched using their wings for flight, but kept them around anyway (probably just to spite me). What makes these roaches even more troublesome is their ability to quickly become immune to the bug sprays we use. In just a few short years, they can develop resistance, making it tough to find new ways to stop them. Unfortunately, coming up with new roach-killing ingredients is expensive and takes a long time, what with all the safety checks and registrations involved. The only bright spot in this all is that understanding how they’ve evolved will help us develop new strategies to control them. Gaining more intel on how resistance emerges in them does give us better ammunition to eliminate them. The findings of this study have been detailed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and can be accessed <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2401185121">here</a>.

‘German’ cockroaches most likely came from India around 2,000 years ago, say researchers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two years ago, a farmer found three cattle dead and covered in a massive number of ticks.</li><li>The ticks turned out to be an invasive species, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/haemaphysalis-longicornis-east-asian-ticks-in-new-jersey-may-carry-disease-2018-4">Asian longhorned tick</a>, newly established in Ohio.</li></ul>In the summer of 2021, Risa Pesapane, an assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State, got a call about three dead cattle on a farm in eastern Ohio, near the border of West Virginia. The farmer had never seen animals so infested with ticks, Pesapane told Insider.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/jme/article-abstract/60/5/1126/7238612?redirectedFrom=fulltext">recent paper</a>, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Entomology, Pesapane and her colleagues documented the case, stating it was the first established population of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/r-asian-longhorned-tick-spreading-in-us-2018-12">Asian longhorned ticks</a> in Ohio. But Ohio isn't the first place these ticks have turned up.ALTs are an invasive species native to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick">East Asia</a>. It's been in the US since at least 2010 and found in at least <a target="_blank" href="https://today.uconn.edu/2023/09/uconns-cvmdl-identifies-asian-longhorned-tick-presence-in-ct/#">19 states</a>, according to the US Department of Agriculture.<div type="image" title="A navy blue map of the US with red stars in the 19 states where Asian longhorned ticks have been found" height="5773" width="8659" msid="105242915" hostid="261"></div>"The tick will be a nuisance and it is spreading," Kevin Lahmers, a clinical associate professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, told Insider. "It will cover most of the eastern half of the US — that's most likely."That's a concern since these ticks not only pose a threat to livestock but, to a lesser extent, people too. "The reason that people are following the ticks so aggressively is because of concern for public health, not just animal health," Lahmers said.<h2>Thousands of Asian longhorned tick clones</h2>When Pesapane and her colleagues showed up at the farm in Ohio, they used a drop cloth and lint roller to collect over 9,000 ticks from around the property in about an hour and a half."There were just thousands of ticks present," she said. "I knew immediately that we were not dealing with a tick that we know to be native to the United States.""They just show up in such incredibly large numbers," Joellen Lampman said. She's an Extension Support Specialist in integrated pest management with Cornell University.These ticks show up in such large numbers because they can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-say-they-have-induced-virgin-births-in-fruit-flies-2023-7">reproduce asexually</a>. None of the experts knew of any other tick species in the US that reproduces this way. On top of that, the ALT can "complete its life cycle in a shorter period of time than the ticks previously native to the United States," Pesapane said.So, if a female ALT gets transferred all by itself to a new location, it can still establish a new population. "She's basically <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epaulette-shark-pup-walk-born-chicago-zoo-asexual-reproduction-egg-2023-11">cloning herself</a>," Lampman said. All her offspring can then go on to lay <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick">between 1,000 and 2,000 eggs</a>.<h2>The curious case of the dead cattle</h2><div type="image" title="A brown Asian longhorned tick up close" height="532" width="800" msid="105242916" hostid="261"></div>Pesapane and her colleagues suggest the Ohio cattle died from blood loss. However, Lahmers is more skeptical that blood loss, alone, was the culprit."It would take an awful lot of ticks in order to take enough blood from that animal to" kill it, Lahmers said, adding that because the cattle were buried before Pesapane arrived, it's difficult to know for sure what killed them.While Pesapane understands Lahmers' concern, she said that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick">USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service</a> and studies in New Zealand also support the hypothesis that these ticks can cause death in livestock due to severe blood loss.She added that it's essential to understand the mechanism that kills livestock as the tick spreads. However, it's been difficult to find carcasses to study because cattle owners typically bury them too quickly."Some [pathologists] have hypothesized that there may be an interaction between severe anemia and some sort of toxicosis from compounds in tick saliva, but this is just speculation until a study is conducted," Pesapane said.That said, the cattle's death from another common tick-borne disease, Theileria orientalis, is unlikely since the farm's remaining live cattle tested negative for it, per Pesapane's study.Lampman noted that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ticks-spreading-across-us-pests-global-warming-disease-2019-9">similar cattle deaths</a> have happened in North Carolina. "This is not an event that is unique and we're going to see more of it, unfortunately."<h2>Asian longhorned ticks are hard to spot, contain, and kill</h2>Tiny and brown, the ALT is hard to distinguish from other types of ticks, making it difficult to spot.The ALT seems to thrive in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick">tall grass and wooded areas</a>. While existing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-protect-against-lyme-disease-during-tick-season-2021-8">pesticides will kill them</a>, they need to come in direct contact with the ticks. "If the ticks are hiding deep down in leaf litter or in dense grass, the pesticides just aren't going to reach," Lampman said.Controlling an ALT population would take re-application of a pesticide every five weeks, Pesapane said. That's not feasible because the chemicals would affect the grass the cattle eat as well as any pollinators in the area.<div type="image" title="Hereford Cattle" height="1414" width="2121" msid="105242917" hostid="261"></div>Another challenge is that the ticks feed on a slew of different animals. All the experts agreed that animals like cattle and horses seem to be their favorite, but ALTs have been found on dozens of animals."It's sort of tasting the buffet of all the new possible hosts in the United States, but it has some sort of tried and true favorites," Pesapane said."We're finding them on raccoons, skunks, possums," in addition to deer, dogs, and birds, Lampman said.Birds and other wildlife may help spread the ticks, especially locally, but Pesapane said moving livestock between states could also be a culprit. "There's probably some combination of wild and domestic animals that are responsible for this" spread, she said.<h2>Asian longhorned tick-borne diseases</h2>In other countries, these invasive ticks spread several pathogens in humans and animals. Right now, they mainly seem to be a threat to animals, but they could potentially transmit diseases to humans, too, Pesapane said.For example, Pesapane has seen several cases of the disease Theileria orientalis Ikeda in livestock. It causes jaundice and anemia and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick">lowers milk production</a>. Pregnant, infected cows can also lose their fetuses."Theileria orientalis Ikeda was not known or not widespread in the United States before this tick," Pesapane said.This type of Theileria isn't a risk to humans or most other species, Lahmers said. However, the ticks can pass on other pathogens.While it doesn't seem effective for passing on Lyme disease, the tick has been shown to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-check-for-tick-bites-this-summer-2023-5">transmit other human diseases</a> in lab settings. They include Rocky Mountain spotted fever, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/new-tick-diseases-emerging-in-us-asia-heartland-bourbon-sftv-2022-6">Heartland virus</a>, and Powassan virus.Powassan is currently rare but is increasing. With <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/5-signs-you-have-lyme-disease-not-the-flu-2022-5">Lyme disease</a>, transmission takes hours. Ticks can pass Powassan on in just 15 minutes, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/tick-borne-powassan-virus-is-being-transmitted-in-concentrated-clusters-in-new-england-yale-study-says/">Yale School of Public Health</a>."I'm very, very concerned about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/tick-borne-powassan-virus-can-cause-fatal-brain-infection-2022-5">Powassan virus</a>," Lampman said. "Here's a potentially fatal disease that can get transmitted within minutes. We just don't want to get bit by ticks."When it comes to staying safe from the ALT, the advice is the same as with other ticks, like covering up bare skin and wearing permethrin-treated clothing. Lampman cites the Swiss cheese method: "The more things that you do, the less likely you are to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/acquired-tick-resistance-why-some-people-immune-to-ticks-2023-6">bit by a tick</a>."Pesapane also notes that the ticks seem to love biting dogs, so it's important to protect pets, too.For livestock, the approach is also similar to dealing with other types of ticks. Pesapane recommends checking animals for ticks, treating infected animals, and maintaining pastures.All three experts urged people to reach out to their state universities or local agriculture departments if they see an unusual tick.

The Asian longhorned tick spreading across the US can clone itself thousands of times and even kill cattle

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Swarms of <keyword id="1660797" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="locusts">locusts</keyword> in East African countries are threatening the food supply of more than 20 million people.</li><li>Now, experts are looking for creative solutions to deal with the pests — including eating them.</li><li>Desert locusts are the most destructive migratory pest in the world, and a swarm can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people.</li></ul>Swarms of locusts in East African countries are threatening the food supply of more than 20 million people at a time when food is already scarce because of the coronavirus pandemic.Now, experts are looking for creative solutions to deal with the pests — including eating them.Desert locusts are considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world. They usually live solitary lives in desert environments, but heavy rainfall allowed their eggs to survive in unprecedented numbers this season.The swarms first appeared in <keyword id="6360004" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="kenya">Kenya</keyword> in late December 2019, with a second wave following in April. The region is now bracing for a third, possibly bigger wave in the weeks ahead. Locusts haven't been seen at this scale, in these numbers, for 70 years.According to the United Nations, a locust swarm 1 square kilometer in size can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people, a devastating amount of destruction for local farmers."They have destroyed our maize, our pawpaw tree, so it has given us a hard time," Kenyan farmer Victor Juma told Reuters.Control methods for the swarms include traditional pesticides, which raise environmental concerns, newly developed biopesticides, which are more eco-friendly, and capturing the locusts with nets to turn them into food."Go to some of those remote areas where locust swarms are actually prevailing — a lot of people are eating them," said Chrystanus Tanga, a researcher with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi."We think it's something to promote so that a lot more people will engage in this practice, rather than them shying away thinking that it is a primitive man's food."<div type="image" title="Locust Swarm Kenya " height="1333" width="2000" msid="77663221" hostid="261"></div>But eating locusts could come with health drawbacks if they've eaten plants that were sprayed with pesticides, Tanga said."If these animals are being killed by chemicals and they happen to be eaten by humans, it's definitely going to have an impact on their health," he told Reuters.So scientists at the insect research center are exploring other control options. Most recently, they figured out that a specific pheromone may trigger them to swarm. They've also found a fungus that can poison the locusts without killing other creatures in the environment.While several countries and NGOs have donated over $160 million to contain the swarms, making some progress, many fear the coming months will still be devastating."Within some time you just — all the trees are just naked," Kenyan locust scout Achilo Christopher told Reuters." Even they go inside the farms, they strip the farms, so it is a very big impact on the food security."

A swarm of locusts of biblical proportions is threatening the food supply of 20 million people in East Africa

Thomas Peter/ReutersHunter Masami Hata shoots at a duck in a forest outside Hakusan.In Japan, it was once <a href="https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/japans-female-hunters">considered taboo</a> for a woman to speak with a man before he went on a hunt. But a rising number of female hunters are taking up arms, at their government's behest. Over the last decade, Japanese farmers have lost up to $170 million annually because of a booming deer and boar population, among other animals that nosh on vegetable crops. The Ministry of Agriculture enlists hunters to help control the pest problem and protect the farms. At the same time, there are fewer male hunters in Japan due to age and rural depopulation. Hunting groups and local governments are now recruiting women to get the job done.<a href="https://widerimage.reuters.com/photographer/thomas-peter">Thomas Peter</a>, a German photographer based in Tokyo, <a href="https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/japans-female-hunters">spent time with budding female hunters for Reuters</a> in late 2016. Here's a look at what it was like.

Japanese women are entering the male-dominated world of hunting - at the government's request

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hillary Kladke/Getty41% of global insect species are at risk, a new study finds.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Roughly 40% of the world's insect species are in decline, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320718313636">a new study shows</a>.</li><li>The die-offs are happening primarily because insects are losing their habitats due to farming and urbanization. The use of pesticides and fertilizers is also to blame, as is climate change.</li><li>The study's authors warn that the repercussions of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-insect-population-flying-bugs-climate-change-pesticides-population-decline-2017-10">this loss of Earth's insects</a> could catastrophic.</li><li>The rapid shrinking of insect populations is also a sign that the planet is in the midst of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biological-annihilation-sixth-mass-extinction-2017-7">sixth mass extinction</a>.</li></ul><div title="Page 2"><div data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec">Somehow, it's easier to be concerned about wolves, sea turtles, and White rhinos dying off than it is to feel remorse over vanishing bugs.But the loss of insects is a dire threat - one that could trigger a "catastrophic collapse of Earth's ecosystems," a new study warns.The research, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320718313636">the first global review of its kind</a>, looked at 73 historical reports on insect declines around the world and found that the total mass of all insects on the planets is decreasing by 2.5% per year.If this trend continues unabated, the Earth might not have any insects at all come 2119."In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none," Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, a study co-author and researcher at the University of Sydney, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1">told the Guardian</a> That's a big problem, since insects are food sources for countless bird, fish, and mammal species. Pollinators like bees and butterflies also perform a crucial role in fruit, vegetable, and nut production.</div><div data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><h2>Insects are going extinct 8 times faster than mammals, birds, and reptiles</h2>Sánchez-Bayo and his co-authors focused their analysis on insects in European and North American countries. They estimated that 41% of insect species are in decline, 31% are threatened (according to criteria set by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threatened-species">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>), and 10% are going locally extinct.That extinction rate is eight times faster than the observed pace of extinction for mammals, birds, and reptiles.The study suggests that bee species in the UK, Denmark, and North America have taken major hits - bumblebees, honey bees, and wild bee species are all declining. In the US, the number of honey bee colonies dropped from 6 million in 1947 to 2.5 million just six decades later.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">APA California beekeeper inspects his honey bee hive.</div></div></div>Moths and butterflies are also disappearing across Europe and the US. Between 2000 and 2009 alone, the UK lost 58% of butterfly species on farmed land. Dragonflies, mayflies, and beetles appear to be dying off as well.When looking at all animal populations planet-wide (not just insects), according to a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089.full">2017 study</a>, the Earth appears to be undergoing a process of "biological annihilation." That analysis estimated that "as much as 50% of the number of animal individuals that once shared Earth with us are already gone."</div>This rapid decline in global biodiversity is sometimes called the "sixth extinction," since it's the sixth time in the history of life on Earth that the planet's fauna has experienced a major collapse in numbers. In the past, mass extinctions have been caused by the emergence of ice ages or asteroid collisions. This mass extinction, however, is driven by human activities - namely deforestation, mining, and carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming."As insects comprise about two thirds of all terrestrial species on Earth, the above trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting life forms on our planet," the authors wrote.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biological-annihilation-sixth-mass-extinction-2017-7">Scientists say we're witnessing the planet's sixth mass extinction - and 'biological annihilation' is the latest sign</a><h2>'Catastrophic consequences for ... the survival of mankind'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Joe Klementovich/Aurora Photos/GettyBy 2119, all of the world's insects could be gone.</div></div></div>The study emphasizes that insects are "essential for the proper functioning of all ecosystems" as food sources, crop pollinators, pest controllers, and nutrient recyclers in soil."If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet's ecosystems and for the survival of mankind," Sánchez-Bayo told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature">the Guardian</a>.Substantial declines in insect populations therefore threaten the food, timber, and fiber production that humanity's survival depends on, according to Timothy Schowalter, professor of entomology at Louisiana State University."The pollinator declines jeopardize 35% of our global food supply, which is why European countries are mandating protection and restoration of pollinator habitats," he told Business Insider.Schowalter added that insects also are critical food resources for many birds, fish and other vertebrates, which would disappear if their food source does. "Insects are often maligned, or at least their significant contributions to ecosystem productivity and delivery of ecosystem services are underappreciated," Schowalter said. "In short, if insects and other arthropods do decline, our survival would be threatened."</div><h2>Farming practices are behind the insect die-off</h2>This isn't the first time scientists have called attention to plummeting insect populations. In 2017, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809">a study indicated</a> that 75% of Germany's flying insects <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-insect-population-flying-bugs-climate-change-pesticides-population-decline-2017-10">had disappeared since the 1990s</a>. Another <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/44/E10397">recent study</a> showed that the total biomass of arthropods - creatures like insects, spiders, and lobsters that have jointed legs but no backbone - in Puerto Rico has taken a nose dive since the 1970s. Pesticides and fertilizers, along with heavy land use for farming, are primary drivers of this decline. "Overall, the systematic, widespread and often superfluous use of pesticides in agricultural and pasture land over the past 60 years has negatively impacted most organisms, from insects to birds and bats," the authors of the new study wrote. They added: "The conclusion is clear: unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades."Sánchez-Bayo told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature">the Guardian</a> that he thinks insecticides like neonicotinoids and fipronil are especially damaging. "They sterilize the soil, killing all the grubs," he said. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Jayanta Dey A farmer sprays pesticide containing monocrotophos on a paddy field at Mohanpur village, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura, July 25, 2013.</div></div></div>Climate-change-driven temperature shifts are playing a role in insect deaths, too, though it's not the main factor. "So far, declines have been related more to land-use changes, especially agricultural intensification, forest fragmentation and urban development, than to temperature change," Schowalter said. <div title="Page 15"><div title="Page 15">To address the steep decline in insect populations, Sánchez-Bayo and his co-authors are pushing for initiatives to restore insect habitats and cut down the amount of chemicals used in agricultural practices."It is imperative that current pesticide usage patterns, mainly insecticides and fungicides, are reduced to a minimum," they wrote.</div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/londons-first-insect-farm-owners-are-trying-get-people-to-eat-worms-2018-8">London's first insect farm owners are trying get people to eat worms and crickets to save the world</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Insects are dying off at record rates - an ominous sign we're in the middle of a 6th mass extinction

Ever since the Internet of things (IoT) got live, the thumb rule for the future has become “anything that can be connected will be connected.” IoT refers to a network of identifiable devices and machinery of all forms and sizes with the intelligence to connect, communicate and control or manage each other seamlessly to perform a set of tasks with minimum intervention. 
 
Today, the fixed Internet connects around 1 billion users via PCs. The mobile Internet will soon link 6 billion users via smartphones. As per a KPMG report, IoT is expected to connect 28 billion “things” to the Internet by 2020. 
 
Considering the importance of this phenomenon, IoT occupies a prominent position in the “Digital India” program launched by Narendra Modi. With a vision to create an IoT industry of $15 billion by 2020, the government has drafted a strategic roadmap to build domain competency, encourage budding entrepreneurs, buffer product failure, energize research acumen, and thereby place India on the global IoT map. 
 
If adequately supported by citizens, infrastructure and governance, IoT has the potential to provide substantial benefit in the various domains. Here we elaborate how IOT would prove to be beneficial for the common men of the country. 
 
o Agriculture: In a country where farmers committing suicide on account of low crop yield or unpredictable market conditions is quite regular, it is time to take IoT to the farm. For crops, smart farming means preparing the soil, planting, nurturing and harvesting at precisely the best time via access to market data. 
 
Currently mKRISHI, a Rural Service Delivery platform developed by TCS, provides advisory services to farmers. However we require a mechanism that provides farmers with on-demand information on the basis of their context that can be sensed through a network of IoT sensors. This can be used to optimize efficiency, maximize productivity and ensure quality of produce. Crop specific information and alerts regarding current/future weather conditions, soil type, fertilizer, pest control, etc. from industry experts should be made accessible via mobile device. 
 
o Disaster Prediction and Management: India is a large country and is prone to a number of disasters such as river floods, drought, cyclones, landslides and more. IoT has the potential to serve a critical, life-saving, role in the event of disaster. Though it is not possible to completely avoid disaster, impact can be minimized by using a combination of GIS, remote sensing and satellite communication. 
 
GIS applications such as Hazzard Mapping can be used by meteorological departments to quickly communicate the risk. Remote sensing can speedily gather data across channels to signal impending disaster. For instance, a combination of sensors can provide information on the condition of railway tracks that can be used to avoid derailment incidents. 
 
o Transportation: Metros and cities of India are famous for snarling traffic jams. The problem worsens as population and the number of vehicles increase and the city transportation systems and infrastructures stay limited. 
 
Need of the hour is intelligent transportation systems that consolidate traffic data from various sources such as traffic cameras, commuters’ mobile phones, vehicles’ GPS, sensors on the roads. Analysis of this traffic information can provide near-real-time insights about traffic performance, conditions and incidents using correlation with historical data. By monitoring traffic operations and incidents through a centralized system, we can create a geospatial map that graphically displays road network, traffic volume, speed and density at different city locations. 
 
Health &amp; Wellness: To ensure affordable, accessible and quality healthcare, IoT can evolve to a P2M (Person to Machine) relationship, enabled by a powerful interaction between smart objects and people in areas of health care, monitoring, diagnostics, medication administration, fitnessChronic Disease Management is possible via wearable devices that monitor a patient’s physiological conditions (blood pressure, blood glucose levels, breathing, pulse, etc.). Hospitals can use IoT for remote monitoring personnel, disease management, inpatient care, patient specific record databases and more. Also with today’s busy life, connected devices can help keep a tab on the health of people (elders / patients) at home as well as alert medical staff in case of emergencies. 
 
 
o Safety and Security: As the cities and people are growing, so are crimes! IoT can help make our homes secure through smart home solutions that not only provide visual data of the visitors but, also check for intruders, provide remote alerts on the mobiles, monitor any gas leakage in the house, check for water logging or other environmental conditions . In addition, the connected devices, when deployed as part of city infrastructure, can be used to keep a tab on the crimes either through involvement of fellow citizen and/or police forces. 
 
The reality is that the IoT allows for virtually endless opportunities, many of which we can’t even think of or can’t fully understand the impact of today. While we have seen good adoption at personal level, the role of IoT is critical to the way we manage our cities and infrastructure. It is thereby a must that citizens, the government and corporates participate and collaborate in leveraging IoT to solve the social and economic challenges faced by us. 
 
( This article has been contributed by Satish Tembad, Chief Technology Officer, ABOVE Solutions)

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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/game-changers"></a><div class="KonaFilter image-container full"><div class="image">Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesGuy Davies, an inspector of the Florida Division of Plant Industry, shows an orange that is showing signs of "citrus greening."</div></div>Anyone who delights in freshly squeezed orange juice or eats grapefruit for breakfast should take a moment to stop and savor the taste of those citrus fruits. Many of them are at risk of being destroyed by a disease spread by an invasive pest that's been sweeping across the citrus-producing regions of the world.
"It's horrible - it's a disaster," says Fred Gmitter, a professor of horticulture <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> at the University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center.
It might be time to kiss your OJ goodbye, unless science steps in to save the day.
At least 70% of Florida's citrus trees are already infected by the disease, known as citrus greening, huanglongbing, or occasionally just with an ominous "it," as in "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/science/a-race-to-save-the-orange-by-altering-its-dna.html" target="_blank">It's here</a>."
Florida's citrus crop this year is the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/apnewsbreak-federal-funds-citrus-greening-24105661" target="_blank">lowest it's been in 30 years</a>, and agricultural authorities have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/business/us-allocates-31-5-million-to-aid-florida-citrus-industry.html" target="_blank">continued to lower</a> their production estimates. Orange-juice prices are <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/12/us-usda-citrus-disease-idUSKBN0EN1QY20140612" target="_blank">up nearly 20% this year alone</a> and will continue to rise. The disease was a major factor in the lime shortage that <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Mar/18/lime-mexico-shortage-price-increase-tijuana/" target="_blank">made the price of a box</a> of Persian limes jump from $18 to $85 last December. Prices could jump higher for oranges. Researchers and growers say that if a cure isn't found, the entire $9 billion Florida citrus industry <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/florida-citrus-growers-worry-that-deadly-bacteria-will-mean-end-of-orange-juice/2014/01/12/1391c470-7891-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html" target="_blank">could be destroyed</a>.
<h3>A Big Hit To Breakfast</h3>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image">Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe Asian citrus psyllid carries the bacteria that causes huanglongbing from one tree to another.</div></div>The disease first appeared in Florida in 2005. It is caused by bacteria spread by a 4-millimeter-long bug called the Asian citrus psyllid, which looks a little like an aphid but is much more active. The bacteria turns fruit sour and changes its color. These unripe fruit fall from the trees and <a href="http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2014/06/05/uf-team-finds-possible-treatment-for-citrus-greening/10017477/">eventually</a> die.
Researchers, citrus growers, and agriculture officials are doing everything they can to stop its spread. The desperate nature of the effort elucidates the severity of the problem.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=3&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCQQFjAC&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2014%2F06%2F13%2Fbusiness%2Fus-allocates-31-5-million-to-aid-florida-citrus-industry.html&amp;ei=3uKiU9fYAeuisASL_ICoAw&amp;usg=AFQjCNEFzVqbUEwIFd6hGDB8u0PtqWcW9Q&amp;sig2=jYaqM6tutOIB0SqSvhaHww&amp;bvm=bv.69411363,d.cWc" target="_blank">allocated $31.5 million</a> to fight the disease in Florida, a number that seems like a lot until you consider that Florida's citrus industry is worth $9 billion and employs 76,000 people. Initiatives have been launched to stop the spread of the disease in Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana.
Researchers and growers all over Florida are breeding trees and trying to find hardy ones that can survive long enough to get the pests under control. Part of the USDA's money is going toward approving new varieties of citrus.
In California - which produces 80% of the whole-fruit citrus eaten in the U.S., an industry worth $2 billion - the USDA recently promised $1.5 million to help release a million <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/06/140617-citrus-greening-wasp-california-biocontrol-psyllid-science/">parasitic </a><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/06/140617-citrus-greening-wasp-california-biocontrol-psyllid-science/">Pakistani </a><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/06/140617-citrus-greening-wasp-california-biocontrol-psyllid-science/">wasps</a> each year. The wasps hunt the psyllid bugs, which have spread to the state, though no one is certain how far they've spread the greening bacteria yet.
Around the world, in Asia, Africa, and South America, similar efforts are underway. In Brazil, the only place that produces more orange juice than Florida, diseased orange groves are cut down entirely and healthy trees are planted in new groves, hopefully far enough away that the bugs won't find and infect them.
But alone these measures haven't been sufficient. The wasps can, at best, slash the psyllid population by a third. Eliminating diseased trees hasn't stopped the disease from spreading from country to country and even continent to continent. Short-term strategies are like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound, though they may help farmers who are "hanging on by a string" stay in business a little longer, Gmitter says.
Without being able to cure the disease, greening will continue to leave millions of acres of trees devastated and put global citrus production in peril.
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesAffected fruit.</div></div></h3>
<h3>Science To The Rescue</h3>
The psyllids are hard to kill because they spread so rapidly, though massive insecticide sprayings have occasionally helped large commercial growers stave off disaster for a year. But the next big issue is that the bugs are becoming resistant to pesticides; they survive these chemicals meant to kill them. The price of citrus is rising rapidly and will continue to do so as the fruit becomes scarcer.
Some researchers think this blight attacking our beloved oranges will be the thing that persuades Americans to accept genetically modified organisms. There's hope that GMO citrus with a string of viral DNA would be resistant to the disease. In an article on citrus greening in The New York Times last summer, Ricke Kress, the president of a company in charge of 2.5 million trees and one that squeezes juice for Tropicana and Florida's Natural, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/science/a-race-to-save-the-orange-by-altering-its-dna.html">was quoted telling</a> his boss "the consumer will support us if it's the only way."
Gmitter thinks that if GMO citrus tree used a gene from another citrus fruit, it might be easier to get people to accept it. But genetically modified citrus trees will still take time to create and can be expensive.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/miggslives/5222735235/in/photolist-8XvTee-4RPRyQ-e4sKsD-3icTfk-b9bg9D-mt12v-9D6yDN-kCDiS4-fbq28g-b9bfwB-cTDgnq-gm91ba-3L9bG9-8PLq7F-zYfa6-2sByS-9XxSe6-66qJ8w-9bTZAi-3Qf8aA-aca1TP-bnGxHK-i5vQKy-doSj2D-aBSurE-fExqx3-7YEe7T-7jVf1z-iQ1oTY-3FZuAS-jtNqeN-g2yUX-dTKdRq-5ZHeCr-ezf22u-7Baros-58vwS-ax8WUC-9D3DbD-mLbozF-iX9nM-88QHW3-egXznD-k45Zk7-dmKvmc-8SUVZY-6C4jTx-MkehX-9yCwsD-damS1M">rafael-castillo/flickr</a>A blight-free orange tree.</div></div>Recently, another potential cure for the disease may have been uncovered. A study from the University of Florida showed that a chemical called benzbromarone that's occasionally used to treat gout in humans (though not approved in the U.S. for concerns about effects on the liver) was able to <a href="http://news.ufl.edu/2014/06/04/citrus-greening-treatment/">stop the bacteria in about 80%</a> of trees that were tested.
Still, approving a new treatment chemical would probably take five to seven years at least, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers who discovered the chemical's potential. Even then, there's no guarantee that the treatment will work in the field or that the bacteria wouldn't develop a resistance to it.
It's time to think long and hard about what our orange juice, tangerines, and grapefruit are worth. They may not be around for much longer.

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