Key Facts Climate & Environment Insects Vanishing Even in Pristine Habitats Mounting evidence indicates the insect biodiversity crisis has reached even untouched ecosystems. A long-term study in the Colorado Rockies found flying insect abundance has collapsed by ~72% over 20 years in a subalpine meadow with minimal human impact sciencedaily.com. Higher summer temperatures were tightly correlated with the decline, implicating climate change rather than local land use. “Insects have a unique…vulnerability to environmental change,” warns biologist Keith Sockman, who led the study sciencedaily.com. He notes that mountain ecosystems host many endemic species which “may be in jeopardy if the declines shown