“Small wings change the fate of continents”: how important are migrating flies for the wild?

In recent decades, there has been a large-scale extinction of insects around the world. Primarily, if we can say so, the indicator for humans is the extinction of pollinators, on which all our agriculture depends! And the situation is actually critical also because people are diligently closing the circle of ecocide, which I have repeatedly mentioned in my materials.

A simple scheme: poisons are scattered over millions of agricultural fields — insects are destroyed. This provokes the death of some species and the proliferation of others, which begin to occupy the vacant niches! And the following year, this requires even more poisons from humans, ultimately wiping out all populations altogether.

The extinction of insect pollinators is already a global problem, leading to the degradation of all terrestrial ecosystems. Ultimately, this will result in the most severe food catastrophes for humanity itself. And if people only know about the death of bees, the reality is that all other pollinators are also becoming extinct, such as bumblebees and butterflies!

I studied data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. According to their research, about 75% of all food crops in the world depend on insect pollination. This data only concerns human agriculture, while it ignores the consequences for wildlife, where pollinators also support crucial biological processes!

In 2019, a major meta-analysis of 73 scientific studies on pollinators was conducted by a group of scientists, which showed that the number of ALL INSECTS IN THE WORLD is declining by an average of 2.5% annually. If this trend continues, then by the end of the century — that is, the lifetime of our children and grandchildren — practically all insects in the world will become extinct, and with them all the planet’s ecosystems will be finally destroyed!

At the moment, people live by the principle “we have enough, so it’s fine!” No one thinks about what we are condemning our children to! I even often hear in conversations with people, “Oh well, scientists will figure something out.”

This is how problems that need to be understood and addressed by the whole world turn into a “trifle” that doesn’t deserve our attention.

I will quote Professor Dave Goulson from the University of Sussex, who authored a scientific paper on the decline of wild bees in Europe. The work was published in 2018, and it reports the extinction of 25–30% of all wild bees over decades!

“We stand at a crossroads where the functional extinction of key pollinators could jeopardize the sustainability of ecosystems on the planet.”

NEW RESEARCH

Today I just finished studying a new scientific paper by scientists titled “Lords of the Flies: Migratory Diptera are Diverse, Numerous, and Ecologically Significant,” which was published on April 1, 2025. Generally, as new research emerges, we try to study it immediately, so that in our fight for Life we can operate with real, objective data.

I want to share this experience with you.

The study shows that in reality, despite all modern technologies and scientific progress in the world, we actually know almost nothing about biological systems. This means, at a minimum, we are unable to fully assess the problems and consequences of our interference in the Earth’s natural processes.

Look at this.

This particular scientific work is specifically about dipterous insects, which is one of the largest orders of the insect class. The main feature of these insects is the presence of only one pair of wings (front), while the hind wings are transformed into halteres, which function as “organs of balance.” A biological gyroscope, so to speak!

You know them by classification: flies, mosquitoes, midges, horseflies and deer flies, hoverflies, flower flies, and so on.

Please don’t scold them for their bad habit of being annoying in the hot summer! These are extremely important species for nature, which are necessary to maintain equilibrium.

Flies process organic matter, hoverflies pollinate plants, while mosquitoes and horseflies transmit diseases—enabling animals’ immune systems to constantly develop defense mechanisms. In simple terms, it’s precisely because diseases are transmitted that protective mechanisms evolve. Many insect species perform sanitation functions and even regulate the number of animals!

By the way, the figures are interesting! The study states that the larvae of just two hoverfly species (the marmalade hoverfly and the cow hoverfly) eat about 10 trillion aphids each year in southern England alone. Now “remove” them from the ecosystems, and we would have an aphid invasion, requiring millions of tons of pesticides, which would lead to an accelerated extinction of all other species.

So this scientific study, which has just been published, shows that dipterous insects play a much more significant role in ecosystems than previously thought. Scientists have identified that 592 species of Diptera—turns out—regularly migrate long distances! At the same time, the actual number may be several times higher. And some species act as “substitutes” for others; for example, when bee populations decline, hoverflies take on more plant pollination, supporting the harvest of fruit and berry crops in various regions of the world. And thanks to them, biodiversity is preserved, animals have something to eat, and the food base is maintained.

Thus, there is a sort of “pollination relay” that other insects pick up when the main pollinators disappear! This demonstrates the flexibility of nature’s immune system, where ecosystems try to adapt to changes.

And probably the most obvious fact is that flies are food for many birds, reptiles, amphibians, and spiders. The reduction in the number of flies triggers the entire chain of negative consequences for nature!

Essentially, the study itself demonstrates that the actual scale of migrations and the role of flies in ecosystems are still not sufficiently researched.

“We are only at the beginning of understanding how these ‘modest’ insects affect the balance of life on Earth,” the scientists say.

I immediately recalled a phrase by the famous French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. Perhaps you’ve heard it too: “small wings change the fates of continents.” This quote was said back in 1879!

And today, in 2025, we still know nothing about the importance of these “small wings” on our continents. Only now are modern scientific data starting to reveal the crucial work insects do in maintaining balance and facilitating the transfer of substances between ecosystems!

Currently, scientists have highlighted the main ecosystem services of dipterous insects and want to thoroughly study their migration routes to understand the hidden links between species and ecosystems.

“We have found that migratory Diptera are vital to the planet’s ecosystems, but their significance is greatly underestimated. We hope this review will inspire many more studies in this fascinating and important world of fly migration,” says Dr. Miles Menz of James Cook University.

“Migratory flies play an unprecedentedly important ecological role, making them a significant factor in ecosystems and the economy,” says Dr. Will Hawkes of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the Penryn Campus in Exeter, Cornwall. “Many species that benefit people are threatened by climate change and other human impacts, and many may vanish before they are documented unless action is taken. To conserve them, it won’t be enough to protect or restore habitat in individual locations; the entire migration route must be capable of supporting the existence of these insects.”

What especially interested me in the study was the impact of migratory insects on our agriculture. Scientists cite data that hoverflies alone, which pollinate plants, visit about 52% of the world’s main agricultural crops, valued at around 300 billion US dollars annually.

Overall, 62% of migratory Diptera are pollinators, and considering their migratory routes, we can confidently say that we generally do not understand how critically important their influence on ecosystems is! This includes linking them together.

Meanwhile, all species without exception provide the movement of nutrients. Thus, in nature, dipterous insects connect distant corners of the wild, transferring genetic material (for example, pollen) between them, increasing the genetic diversity of plants!

Another extremely interesting correlation is between the extinction of insects and birds. I wrote in earlier materials, also based on scientific research, that over the last 50 years, the number of insectivorous birds in North America has decreased by about 2.9 BILLION.

I think additional data from scientists is needed here. Let’s hope such research will appear soon, and we can understand these interconnections!

In the meantime, I hope that many people will read this material and share it on social media! Let’s broaden our horizon of personal experience — only in this way can we truly fight for Life, operating with fundamental knowledge in our Mission.

© PAVEL PASHKOV