Interview: Australian research of beetle numbers key to future human development: researchers

Keeping track of beetle numbers might be more important to the human population than once thought, according to Australian researchers.

The little, six-legged creatures are useful to the human population as a health barometer: if insect numbers begin to dwindle, that would spell danger for mankind.

Dr Andrew Hamilton from the School of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences and the University of Melbourne told Xinhua on Tuesday that beetles were extremely important in regulating farm and garden soil, and if their numbers began to drop, it could cause trouble for farmers and producers.

He said beetles were a key component to maintaining healthy soil. They also keep the numbers of other pest insects down, and fertilize cow pats on farms.

"The reason they're important is they do so much in the ecosystem, so recycling carbon and nutrients and other things, so it's a knock-on effect," he said.

He said that while it might sound like a strange thing to do, the research proves useful for humans.

"The reason it's important is that beetles account for so much of the organisms on Earth. Roughly, they account for about a quarter of all described species and maybe 20 percent of all species overall," he said.

He said the diverse number of beetle species brought with it different methods of helping the Earth.

"Beetles are interesting as they have so many different ways of making a living. Some eat other animals, some eat leaves, suck nectar from flowers ... they're incredibly diverse," he said.

Hamilton worked with representatives from Griffith University to determine the number of beetle species alive on Earth.

The research implemented a brand new method of calculating species numbers, and concluded that a potential number of beetle families came to a mean of 1.5 million species compared with 17.5 million as once thought during the 1980s.

But Hamiton was adamant that beetle families hadn't just gone extinct, and that the research was a lot more accurate compared to the past.

"It wouldn't be that so many species have died between the old method was used and now. We are dealing with the unknown, we're trying to predict something that's hard to predict," he said.

"We don't know what rate we're losing beetles and arthropods. There are ways at estimating the rate of loss, but that's based on larger organisms.

"So if birds are being lost at a certain rate over 100 years, then maybe that same rate applies for arthropods.

"But we don't know if that's true. But the importance of this type of work is, to know in absolute terms how many species you're losing, you need to know the starting number."

By finding out more about beetles and the number of species that are roaming the Earth, Hamilton highlighted the importance of Taxonomists, or those that name and describe living species.

Currently, only 10 percent of beetle species are named and described, something that could change thanks to scientific developments.

"Taxonomists name things and this sort of work justifies the discipline and highlights how important it is," Hamilton said.

With every new species named and studied, scientists can determine the benefits of each individual beetle, and better understand how they contribute to the ecosystem.

Hamilton said future technology could pave the way for a greater number of species being identified.

"With the advent of molecular biology, a lot of (future beetle research) might become less labour-intensive. Bulk testing might give indications on how many species are in a certain area." Endi