Are insects important in food chains?

Insects are critical links in food chains. They can be conventionally divided into herbivores, carnivores, and scavengers (necrophages). And representatives of all these categories are food for other animals, including insects.

Moreover, for many species of animals, insects are the only food, or make up a significant part in the diet. These include predatory beetles, many small birds, lizards, most bats.

Among the large vertebrates, there are even species of animals that specialize in eating certain insects. For example, anteaters, for which ants and termites are their only food.

The number of insects can directly affect the number of insectivores. The dependence in this case is direct. For example, many birds feed their chicks with caterpillars and insects. If the number of caterpillars is not high (for example, it was a very harsh winter), then the number of chicks in these birds will not be high. Or the chicks will die of malnutrition. The same happens in other animals.