If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months.

Wilson’s remark is a stark, counterintuitive thought experiment meant to correct human “charismatic megafauna” bias. By imagining insects removed while everything else remains, he highlights how thoroughly terrestrial ecosystems depend on insects for pollination, decomposition, soil formation, nutrient cycling, and as the base of many food webs. The time scale—“within a few months”—underscores that this dependence is not abstract or distant: crop production, wild plant reproduction, and the animals that feed on insects would crash rapidly, cascading into widespread ecological and human disruption. The quote functions as a warning about biodiversity loss and the fragility of ecological services that modern societies often take for granted.