What Is Entomology?
Entomology at its most simple is the study of insects and associated animals. It is a subsection of biology and zoology. The animal class of Insecta is by far the largest group of animals in the world.
To give you an idea of how big the subject is and how much work there is yet to be done, a little over a million insects have been classified, but it is estimated that there are 30,000,000 more species to categorize.
Lots of these insects do not even have names yet and the habits of lots of those with names is still a complete mystery. This part of the study of entomology: the study of insects’ relationship with humans, the environment and other plants and animals is vital work.
This means that entomology has a bearing on agriculture, biology, chemistry, criminology, forensic science, ecology, economics, food, forestry, genetics, health, trade, pharmaceuticals, robotics and veterinary medicine just for a kick off!
This means that there are plenty of kinds of jobs in which a knowledge of entomology plays a useful role. For example, if you are interested in insects and computers, you could develop computer programs for farmers to help them plan for all sorts of things from attacks by pests to pollination by bees.
If you like to be in the field, you could work in forestry. If you like chemistry, you could work on chemicals like insect repellents
If you like maths, you could work on statistics, insect populations, growth estimates etc. In other areas you could work on the genetic engineering of plants to withstand insect attack; work in a zoo rearing and feeding insects both for food for other animals and as exhibits or work in scenes of crimes using the insect life on a dead body to help provide evidence for an investigation.
With so many kinds of careers on offer, it is simple to find a branch of entomology to interest you. There is also a limitless supply of specimens – there are approximately 1,600,000,000 insects on the planet for each human being and there is no kind of terrestrial life on the planet that does not depend on insects for its existence. It is also the most diverse life form on the planet.
A huge difficulty that is increasing year on year is the shortage of food, yet it is likely that 40% of all food produced is either eaten or spoiled by insects. If that single difficulty could be solved, it would give us a breathing space to work out the difficulty properly. It is obvious that entomology will play a crucial function in solving this problem.
Entomologists have a great deal of work to do in safeguarding the environment and one of the most multifaceted environments is the rain forest. Approximately half the world’s species of plants and animals are discovered just in rain forests.
Lots of of these species have not been classified and they may hold the keys to curing a lot of of the most lethal illnesses affecting mankind today.
A century ago, the diseases that killed most individuals worldwide were not the ones that we confront now and that is largely because entomologists learned the insects that spread the virus (mosquitoes, ticks and fleas) and learned how to control them.
Nowhere near as many people die nowadays from malaria, Yellow Fever and dengue as they did 100 years ago, because we know how to control mosquito populations and people realize that it is the mosquito spreading the illnesses.
These are the life-threatening diseases, but think about how much money we spend protecting our pets and livestock. And how much do individuals spend on killing cockroaches, silverfish and bed bugs?
There is a huge amount of money being spent on insects so lots of jobs are out there for those with an interest in bugs.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with getting rid of mosquito bites. If you would like to know more just go to our website at Mosquito Bite Swellings.