The Relationship of Insects and Humans
The relationship of insects and humans
Insects have retained a close relationship with human beings since mankind first appeared.
- Insects began to populate the Earth 350 million years ago, much earlier than mankind, and their close relationship has made a crucial impact on human life. Their actual relationships with humans are very diverse and sometimes have very large effects.
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The most fundamental human-insect relationship is between insects and food, and this unavoidable competition has gone on ever since the settlement of mankind, assuming that the history of agriculture began 10,000 years ago.
With the development of agriculture, insects have mainly shown their relationship as pests during cultivation and storage.
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Insects are also related to human clothing, and the technology for obtaining silk from silkworm farming has been known since 3000 B.C. According to the literature, the Chinese characters for silkworm and raw silk were already established during the Yin Dynasty.
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Insects have also contributed to scientific developments.
Fruit flies and silkworms have been used as crucial tools in genetic studies, and cockroaches have played an essential role in immunology, ethology, and physiology.
Also, in recent forensic entomology, insects have used in various manners, including the scientific assumption of time of death using insect life cycles and types.
Moreover, the unique sensory organs and structural characteristics of insects are being applied to advanced technology.
Insects have retained a close relationship with human beings since mankind first appeared.
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As insects appeared on the Earth much earlier than mankind, humans have been attacked by hygiene pest insects such as lice, fleas and bedbugs since primitive times.
It is assumed that these pests were originally parasites on other animals until humans started cave dwelling.
It is considered that these hygiene pests not only cause direct damage through bloodsucking, but also mediate dangerous diseases such as Typhus fever, epidemic typhus and malaria.
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Insects are also cause considerable damage to wood houses.
In particular, lauan is damaged by powder post beetles, while temples are damaged by termites.
Also, various hygiene pest insects are commonly found in private houses and cause aversion.
- Some Trichoptera have the unique living pattern of creating column-shaped homes en masse with strings spit on waterway walls, and cause a negative impact on hydroelectric power generation.
In some foreign countries it is reported that the electric loss from Trichoptera reaches 15%.
- Moreover, some aquatic insects reproduce en masse and cause overheating of engines by blocking car radiators.
It is reported that bark beetles nibble on phone cables and cause communication disruptions.
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