Insects
By the scientist who founded the field of chemical ecology.
Eisner, Thomas. For Love of Insects. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 2005.
Behaviour and sociality of bees, mostly European honeybees in North America, interesting ideas on Darwinian health, relevance of beehive design (insulation). Steely Thomas
Seeley, Thomas D. The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.
Role in (Urban) Ecosystems
Kotze, D. Johan, Elizabeth C. Lowe, J. Scott MacIvor, Alessandro Ossola, Briony A. Norton, Dieter F. Hochuli, Luis Mata, et al. ‘Urban Forest Invertebrates: How They Shape and Respond to the Urban Environment’. Urban Ecosystems 25, no. 6 (2022): 1589–1609. https://doi.org/10/grjzw6.
Ethic and Welfare
Invertebrates are the most numerous. Thus, the suffering they experience has the greatest impact, proportionately.
Horvath, Kelsey, Dario Angeletti, Giuseppe Nascetti, and Claudio Carere. ‘Invertebrate Welfare: An Overlooked Issue’. Annali Dell’Istituto Superiore Di Sanita 49, no. 1 (2013): 9–17. https://doi.org/10/gzv9.
Pain and Suffering
This article argues that the evidence that insects experience pain is weak.
Adamo, Shelley Anne. ‘Do Insects Feel Pain? A Question at the Intersection of Animal Behaviour, Philosophy and Robotics’. Animal Behaviour 118 (2016): 75–79. https://doi.org/10/f8w356.
Argues that the same caution as used with vertebrates should apply to invertebrates and specifically to insects based on evolutionary evidence.
Mikhalevich, Irina, and Russell Powell. ‘Minds Without Spines: Evolutionarily Inclusive Animal Ethics.’ Animal Sentience 29, no. 1 (2020): 329.
See the full article thread based on this paper.
And in particular, the authors' response
Powell, Russell, and Irina Mikhalevich. ‘Affective Sentience and Moral Protection’. Animal Sentience 5, no. 29 (2020). https://doi.org/10/gn2j3s.
Bee
Bees can be depressed. They feel emotions.
Earp, Brian D. ‘What Is It Like to Be a Bee?’ Think 16, no. 45 (2017): 43–49. https://doi.org/10/gn2h36.
Textbooks and Overview
Nuridsany, Claude, and Marie Pérennou, dirs. 1996. Microcosmos: Le Peuple de l’herbe. Documentary. Galatée Films, France 2 Cinéma, Canal+. This is a beautiful documentary about insects, evocative. Mikrokosmos Das Volk der Graeser
Gullan, Penny J., and Peter S. Cranston. (1994) 2014. The Insects: An Outline of Entomology. 5th ed. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Insect Image Sources
- Microsculpture - The Insect Portraits of Levon Biss
- USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
- Birth of a Bee
- UV bee
- High speed video of bees
- Blue-banded Bees
- Blue Banded Bees on Lavender - Slow Motion
Backlinks