Essay On Insect Life

Insects make up the majority of all animal life on earth and are found on every continent and in every environment. There is one place where they cannot be found living and that is the ocean, with a few exceptions. The diversity difference between terrestrial and aquatic insect life is vast. Theories have been produced explaining why there are almost no insects in the ocean and it has boiled down to a few reasons or possibilities: the salinity of the ocean, the ineffective respiratory system and buoyancy in sea water, body structures adapted to suit a terrestrial life, the competition with crustaceans and the lack of marine angiosperms.

There are many insects that live in fresh water for part of their life, which is generally in the larval stage. They are able to do this because their body structure is different to that of their final form. There are some insects such as beetles and true bugs that live their whole life in freshwater but even they rely on surface oxygen and cannot stay too long underwater. These insects are found in small to medium bodies of water where it is not deep, there are not many aquatic predators (in comparison to that in the ocean) and no major water movements. Insects that do life in a marine environment are generally found in shallows, mangroves and estuaries. These environments are

Since both insects and plants have evolved and formed a symbiotic relationship with one another, having the one missing makes it impossible for the other to survive properly (Jermy, 1984). Trees have been seen to carry many communities of insects as it provides many habitats for them to occupy. Angiosperms would have difficulty in transporting pollen as water is much denser than air. Most marine vegetation does not offer this level of