This is why some scientists are turning to “soundscape ecology” or “ecoacoustics” as a tool to understand the changing natural world. Now we are beginning to appreciate that other components of the natural world are falling silent. In 1962, Rachel Carson famously wrote about the “ Silent Spring” caused by the effects of agricultural pesticides on songbirds. Depending on where you live, you might hear bird song, flowing water, the buzzing of bees, the roar of tigers, the rustle of leaves, or the calling of frogs.

The crickets are just one part of the larger soundscape that provides the musical accompaniment to nature’s play. Noisy natureĪnybody who has spent any time in the world’s most natural places will know that natural “soundscapes” are neither peaceful nor serene – they are as noisy and busy as any urban high street. Crickets are often held to be indicators of good quality natural habitat, so their decline mirrors the ongoing decline in the wider natural world. The loss, damage and fragmentation of habitats, largely as a result of increasing farming and urbanisation, as well as increasing rates of fires such as those that the world is experiencing in 2018. The reasons behind the decline in crickets and grasshoppers are the standard fare. But this kind of intensive conservation simply is not possible for all species. The wart-biter is now the focus of conservation efforts, including reintroductions into sites from which it has been lost.

If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.”Īmong the species threatened is the delightfully-named “wart-biter” – so-called because of an 18th century Swedish practice of using the strong jaws of the cricket to remove warts from the skin. He added: “We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. One member of the study team, Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University, said at the time: “Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth there has been some kind of horrific decline.” The problem is that recent work has suggested that all insect species, including Orthoptera, are declining – the so-called “ insect Armageddon”.Ī 2017 study found that the abundance of flying insects has plunged by 75% over the past 25 years.

Cricket sounds