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It is estimated that insectivorous birds in the world have a total weight of about three million tons. They consume up to 500 million tons of insects and other arthropods such as centipedes and spiders each year. This is what zoologists from the University of Basel, the University of Utah, the University of Illinois and the University of Koç University of Istanbul, as they report in the journal "The Science of Nature."
those of the human world population, as the University of Basel wrote in a Tuesday message. Humans eat about 400 million tonnes of meat and fish each year.
Forest birds consume about three-quarters of the prey captured by insect-eating birds, about 300 million tonnes. In contrast, other ecosystems such as grasslands, savannas, fields, deserts and arctic tundra consume far fewer insects.
Especially at hatching, when birds feed their little ones with protein-rich prey, billions of herbivorous insects are on the menu. caterpillars and harmful beetles.
"This means that birds – as well as other natural enemies like spiders and ants – contribute significantly to reducing the number of insect insects worldwide," says Martin Nyffeler, responsible for the study. (SDA)
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