AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY: WHAT IT STUDIES, IMPORTANCE - BIOLOGY - 2025

The agricultural entomology is the science that is responsible for studying insects or arthropods that relate to the entire agricultural system or the fruits and vegetables that are planted in the field and can affect their development.

At first, it is said that those insects that do not modify - positively or negatively - agricultural crops, are not objects of study. However, it is very difficult to determine which insects do not have contact with these processes.

It should also be noted that agricultural entomology not only covers everything related to the field and crops, but also studies agricultural systems, that is, everything related to livestock, as well as beekeeping.

What does agricultural entomology study?

Entomology is a zoological science that is responsible for studying insects. The origin of its name comes from the Greek words entomos, "insect", and logos, "science."

In the case of agricultural entomology, it studies from the structure that each insect has, as well as the relationship that they can generate with any type of vegetable or fruit that exists in a given field.

In this case, those insects that have influence on everything related to agriculture, livestock or beekeeping are of interest. Either because of its importance for a stable development, as is the case with bees when carrying pollen, or for the opposite, being the cause of pests or diseases that affect crops.

Thanks to agricultural entomology, which emerged as a result of scientific methods developed in the 16th century, man gradually left behind the superstitions or "curses from beyond" that had been the reasoning implanted until then to explain plagues, for example.

Entomology and phytophages

We have already discussed what entomology represents, but what role can phytophages play? These are responsible for making some fruits or vegetables that we consume, become digestible for our body.

A good example of how positive it can be when insects live on these crops are ants.

As there are many that tend to live inside the trees and acacias, this causes herbivores to refuse to consume their fruits, thus favoring human harvesting. Some of these trees that harbor ants are apple, orange or pear trees.

Entomology studies in Spain

In Spain, for more than 20 years there has been an Agricultural Entomology Teaching Unit with an excellent track record in agricultural research. There are many contributions from this institution to improve the control of pests and insects, as well as the techniques for improving crops in line with arthropods.

The research has provided, for example, a better citrus production in the Valencian Community. In addition, among the mites that have been investigated is Panonychus citri, a predator that has managed to be controlled and that has generated a very positive impact on the Spanish harvest.

Importance

EO Wilson (1929), one of the most iconic entomologists, assured that for every hectare that is found in the Amazon rainforest with just dozens of birds and mammals, it has more than one billion invertebrates

Therefore, in any type of crop and vegetation we can find different pests and subspecies living within them. This means that some will affect both positively and negatively our crops.

In turn, according to the microbiologist, Jona Sal: “If insects disappear from the earth, all life will be lost in general in about 50 years. Now, if the human being disappeared from the earth, the rest of the species would not only remain, but also the already extinct ones would re-emerge.

References

1. 1. Museum Wales (2018) - Entomology and terrestrial invertebrates.
   2. Kansas State (2017) - Entemology Curosity Grows Here.
   3. Royal Entomology Social (2018) - “Whats is entomology”.
   4. Acadamic Kids Encyclopedia (2005) - "Entomology is the scientific study of insects."
   5. US National Library of Medicine (2011) - “The use of insects in forensic investigations: An overview on the scope of forensic entomology”.