SEVILLA, 29 (EUROPA PRESS)
The pre-doctoral researcher at the Doñana Biological Station of the CSIC Jairo Robla has published ‘The cunning of insects and other arthropods’, in which he recounts “curious and surprising” stories about the “largest and most diverse” animal group on Earth that Furthermore, it is “key” to biodiversity.
“Many people think that they are repulsive, vectors of many diseases, guilty of food pests or simply that they are just there to annoy. But nothing is further from the truth. Bugs are the most important allies of the human being. And it is that without we could not survive as we do today. In addition, its impressive biodiversity reveals a whole world of possibilities,” said Robla in a press release sent by the CSIC.
In addition, according to the researcher, “there are arthropods capable of stealing water from the air, of walking on the hottest sand without burning, of lifting up to a thousand times their own weight, of diving and emerging completely dry, or of producing substances with great medical or therapeutic interest or potential.
Likewise, Robla explained that arthropods are present in all ecosystems in the world and are the animals with the largest number of species and also those that occupy the most biomass on earth. In addition, their functions are “numerous and essential” for the proper functioning of ecosystems: they pollinate up to 90% of flowering plants, participate in fertilizing and aerating the soil, disperse a large number of seeds, are the fundamental basis of trophic chains of almost all ecosystems, they recycle excrement and corpses and return nutrients to the soil.
In his book, the CSIC scientist has pointed out that there are some that “zombify their prey, that parasitize parasites of parasites or that are capable of imitating organisms that are completely different from them.”
“There are those who live on the highest peaks in the world, where vegetation no longer grows, or who thrive among the lava of volcanoes. I have tried to use simple language so that anyone can enjoy it. Among its pages, all people they will find stories with which they feel identified”, commented the entomologist.
Robla has been passionate about “bugs” since he was little. Although he was born in Oviedo, his life has always been closely linked to nature. His memory always takes him to the endless walks he took through the woods with his grandfather, to whom he owes much of his passion for the natural environment and, especially, for arthropods. After studying Biology at the University of Oviedo, he completed a Master’s Degree in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology and is currently developing his doctoral thesis on forest restoration at the Doñana Biological Station.
In addition to this, he spends a large part of his free time researching the diversity of arthropods in the Iberian Peninsula. Together with his partner Lluc García, he even discovered, on a beach in Asturias, a new species of arthropod of the Buchnerillo genus, never before described.
Another of his passions is dissemination, which he considers an “essential” tool to make science reach the general public. In addition to being a writer, he also participates in numerous informative events and spreads curiosities about nature on his Instagram profile @biologosalvaje and Twitter @BioJairo.
“I think this book will make people lose their fear of insects and other arthropods a bit. They will end up finding them curious and entertaining. In addition, I also think it can be the opportunity for people to reconcile with bugs and start to destigmatize them”. “They can teach us many things and we just have to pay a little more attention to them and lose our fear of them”, Robla concluded.
