Role of Insects in Environment with Special Reference to Forensic Science

Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2020; 8(6): 570-574 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 Role of insects in environment with special www.entomoljournal.com JEZS 2020; 8(6): 570-574 reference to forensic science © 2020 JEZS Received: 15-08-2020 Accepted: 23-09-2020 Umer Bin Farook, Showket A Dar, Sajad H Wani, Kounser Javeed, Sajad Umer Bin Farook Research Scholar Division of H Mir, Munazah Yaqoob, Abid Showkat, Ajaz A Kundoo and Rohie Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir Hassan University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Wadura Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India Abstract Showket A Dar Insects are the dominant group of animals on earth today. They occur practically everywhere and far Assistant Professor, Division of outnumber all other terrestrial animals taken together. They create the biological foundation for all Entomology, KVK- Kargil, Ladakh terrestrial ecosystems. They cycle nutrients, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, maintain soil structure and Sher-e-Kashmir University of fertility, control populations of other organisms, provides food besides having great utility in the field of Agricultural Sciences and Technology medicine and forensics. Forensic entomology is a science, which applies knowledge of insects (and other of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India arthropods) to civil proceedings and criminal trials. The applications of Forensic Entomology are numerous, encompassing any situation that may involve an interaction between insects and other Sajad H Wani arthropods, and the law. Therefore, the utility of the field includes in the areas like; urban, stored product Assistant Professor Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. Degree College and medico legal. The principle underlying this science is to establish the time of death, known as Shopian, Kashmir, Jammu and postmortem interval (PMI) by knowing the life cycle of insect species and evaluating the insect Kashmir, India succession waves present on the corpse at any given time viz a viz movement of the corpse, manner and Kounser Javeed cause of death and association of suspects at the death scene. The Forensic Entomology in India is in its Assistant Professor Division of Fruit infancy state and few workers are doing their research in this field. Despite the enormous usefulness, Science, AAC, Pahnoo Shopian Sher- little work is done in our country as our court of justice didn’t include use of Forensic Entomology as a e-Kashmir University of Agricultural legal proceeding under Article 138 of Evidence Act of IPC. Therefore, in this article we will briefly Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, discuss the role of insects in environment with special focus on their application in forensic science in Jammu and Kashmir, India India. Sajad H Mir Assistant Professor Division of Keywords: Insects, Pollination, Natural enemy, Forensic entomology, PMI, India Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Wadura Introduction Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India Arthropods are by far the largest and most important biological group on Earth (they Munazah Yaqoob outnumber even plants), they occur everywhere and perform important biological functions Associate Professor Division of that support the whole living system on our planet. They perform pollination (Dar et al. 2016) Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir [13] University of Agricultural Sciences , recycle nutrients, maintain soil structure and fertility, control populations of other and Technology of Kashmir, Wadura organisms, provides food besides having great utility in the field of medicine and forensics, Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India thus their presence at crime scenes opens a wide range of applications for forensic entomology Abid Showkat (Turchetto and vanin, 2004) [43]. Junior Agriculture Assistant Dept. of Agriculture Govt. Jammu and Kashmir, India Role of Insects Ajaz A Kundoo Insects are important because of their diverse roles they have in the environment (Scudder et [36] Research Scholar Division of al. 2017) . The dominance of insects in the living world has been central curiosity to many Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir fields of research. Insects create the biological foundation for all terrestrial ecosystems, University of Agricultural Sciences [10] and Technology of Kashmir, however the major of them act as pests (Dar et al. 2015) in agriculture. Insects have Shalimar, Jammu and Kashmir, evolved unique features in the animal world that are a surprise to experts in biomechanics and India bioengineering because many are recent inventions of humans. Insects have been in Rohie Hassan competition with humans for the products of our labor ever since cultivation of soil began. Research Scholar Dept. of Zoology, OPGS University of Rajasthan, India The role of insects in environment is explained briefly under following heads Corresponding Author: Showket A Dar 1) Insects as Natural enemies Assistant Professor, Division of Natural enemies are insects that eat other organisms that we consider as pests of crops and Entomology, KVK- Kargil, Ladakh other commodities. Broadly the natural enemies are categorized as following: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology a) Predators of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, b) Parasitoids India ~ 570 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies http://www.entomoljournal.com Predators consume their prey after killing, includes some well females that visit the flowers, examples are Sphecidae, known members like lady beetles (lady bugs) as well as some Vespidae, Pompilidae. The pollen wasps is solitary, belong to lesser known insects such as lacewings. Parasitoids are like subfamily of the Vespidae, specialise in gathering pollen for parasites because the feed off a host, but, unlike parasites, feeding their larvae, carried internally and regurgitated into a parasitoids kill their hosts. Many have parasitoids that attack mud chamber prior to oviposition. Bee flies, Tabanidae and them, for example, wasps or tachinid flies. They deposit their Nemestrinidae pollinate fynbos and Karoo plants with narrow, eggs near, on, or actually inside their hosts, larvae hatch and deep corolla tubes through long probosces. Lepidoptera also feed on the host, either inside or attached on the outside until pollinate plants to various degrees, having less abundance and they are ready to pupate. In a home or school garden, the less visitation (Dar et al. 2015; Dar et al. 2017b; Dar et al. parasitoids you are most likely to interact with are aphid 2018) [10, 14, 9] therefore are not major pollinators of food parasitoids. These are tiny wasps that lay their eggs inside of crops. However, various moths are important pollinators of aphids. The larvae eat the aphid from the inside out, then for a other commercial crops such as tobacco. Pollination by cocoon in the shell of the aphid. At this stage the aphid certain moths may be important, however, or even crucial, for appears hard and is a different color from a healthy aphid; this some wildflowers mutually adapted to specialist pollinators, is called a mummy. examples include orchids dependent on a particular Hawk moth, Morgan’s sphinx. Yacca exhibited an elaborate 2) Ecological balances ecological interaction with particular species of Yacca moth Ubiquity of insects means they are a foundational link in food for fertilization. Beetles visiting flowers for various resources webs and ecosystems. Researchers have showed that over and perform cross-pollinators of some plants species Araceae 40% of insect species could go extinct in the next few and Zamiaceae. Pollination by insects is an important function decades, with butterflies, bees and dung beetles most affected. contributing 38% of the total food items sheared but Insects’ collective mass-the estimated weight of all insects on management of diseases (Ullah et al. 2020) [44] and Earth combined-is dropping by an estimated 2.5% every year. conservation of bees is very important (Dar et al. 2017c) [12] to Insect population collapses have recently been reported in sustain continues production of food crops. Germany and Puerto Rico, but the literature strongly indicates the crisis is global. It is observed that four broad issues as the 4) Maintenance of Soil condition global problems leading to insect loss are: Habitat destruction Healthy soil perform the functions of nutrient cycling and pest (Dar et al. 2017a) [11]; expansion of agricultural pollution, suppression as an indication of its potential. The contributions extensive use of pesticides, fertilisers, and industrial waste; of soil micro-arthropods to soil health through their parasites and pathogens and climate change; that together had intersecting roles in decomposition and nutrient cycling and already caused other disturbances too; therefore world over direct and indirect suppression of plant pests are well known. thrust is given to organic farming using organic fertilisers and Arthropods can impact soil and plant health directly by biopesticides and other botanicals (Dar et al. 2014) to save feeding on pest organisms or serving as alternate prey for insect habitat and diversity. However, if nothing is done fast larger predatory arthropods. Indirectly, micro-arthropods enough, the very foundations of our planet’s ecology will be mediate the ability of crop plants to resist or tolerate insect threatened, and with that, humans, too. pests and diseases by triggering induced resistance and/or contributing to optimal nutritional balance of plants. Soil 3) Pollinators fauna, including micro-arthropods, are

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