Edward O Wilson, America's greatest naturalist, called invertebrates – the insects, the spiders, the worms, the snails and all their fellows – "the little things that run the world". In the past five years or so, pollinators, honeybees in particular, have started to vanish in many places, and governments have woken up to the problem, as pollination is worth billions. In fact, insects such as butterflies, moths, bumblebees and mayflies have been disappearing for a long time, although hardly anyone except specialists has noticed or cared. Their decline began half a century ago with the introduction of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals. But the decline has gathered pace over the past decade with the introduction of systemic insecticides such as the neonicotinoids, which are absorbed into every part of the plant, including the pollen and nectar which pollinating insects collect. It is too simple to say that one has caused the other, but the link is being made. In his book The Systemic Insecticides – A Disaster In The Making, the Dutch toxicologist Henk Tennekes argues that neonicotinoids are now present in much of Holland's surface water, killing off aquatic insects and leading to a decline in insect-eating birds across the country.
