Arthropods and Their Potential Economic Benefits

"Could a deeper understanding of arthropods lead to tangible economic benefits?"



Arthropods make up an extremely diverse range of life, and because of this, there are more potential benefits.   A deeper understanding of these creatures could certainly lead to "tangible economic benefits" in my personal opinion.

a caterpillar

I would like to use both the butterfly and moth as an example.  These arthropod's larval stage (the caterpillar) happens to be quite harmful to gardens.  If we were to do more research on the caterpillar, we would likely be able to find better ways of deterring this "pest" from our plants.  In deterring them, we would be able to produce a better harvest.

I think that I will also use the crab as an example.  Everyday we feast on crab legs, and restaurants as well as fishermen make their incomes in part because of this animal.  What if we were to conduct research on the crab that would help us to better locate them.  Perhaps we could develop a kind of "crab sonar" which would make it easier for fishermen to find large numbers of crabs.  If we could figure out exactly where the largest crab populations are, then we would be able to better fish for them, as well as protect them from over-fishing.

Just think of all the opportunities that the research of arthropods could create in the next 5-10 years!  I have no doubt that we will be making several discoveries that could aid us economically because of our research.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!