Chirping crickets, fluttering butterflies, and looping grasshoppers make up the soundtrack of New Mexican summers.
But this chorus of insects is quickly fading.
Scientists and conservationists in New Mexico say insect populations are dropping sharply as hotter, drier weather collides with pesticide and herbicide use and habitat loss, according to Source NM.
Experts say the state's insect decline is threatening not just wildlife but also the crops, wild plants, and food systems people rely on.
David Lightfoot, a research associate professor in the biology department at the University of New Mexico, told Source NM that insects are the "backbone of ecosystems." He said recent conservation survey results in the state are alarming.
"More than half of the species we're evaluating are threatened with extinction, endangered or critically endangered based on declines recently," Lightfoot warned.
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The losses go far beyond rare species. Kevin Burls of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation pointed to the monarch butterfly, whose population is now 99% smaller than it was in the 1980s.
Butterflies are among the best-studied insects. Source NM reported that a 2025 review covering more than 76,000 butterfly studies found butterfly abundance declined 22% from 2000 to 2020. The steepest regional declines were in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma, where abundance was down 36%.
Entomologists told Source NM that insects are essential to the reproduction of about three-fourths of wild plants and roughly one-third of food crops. Insect losses can ripple through everyday life, leading to weaker harvests, stressed gardens and landscapes, and reduced food security.
Burls said the decline is already showing up elsewhere in the food web. "If you talk to any songbird person in the West, they'll tell you the decline in insects is responsible for fewer birds," Burls explained.
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Climate change may be making the problem even more unpredictable. Source NM reported that Simon Doneski, a Ph.D. candidate in the University of New Mexico's Department of Biology who researches butterflies, said recent heat and drought triggered unusually early butterfly emergence, with nearly two dozen species showing up roughly a month earlier than past New Mexico records.
Researchers say New Mexico has made some progress with legal protections. Lightfoot noted that lawmakers' 2025 restructuring of the New Mexico Department of Wildlife has advanced conservation, though protections for insects still need more funding and attention.
A major challenge is simply understanding what is being lost. "Before we protect them, we have to learn about them," Lightfoot said.
Burls encouraged residents to speak up in local politics and state legislatures, including on herbicide and pesticide policies. Community-level support for measures like pollinator-friendly gardening will not solve the crisis alone, but it can help strengthen local ecosystems.
"We're in an uncharted territory," Doneski said. "This hasn't happened in at least 100 years, maybe further back than that."
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