Many of us remember a time when car windscreens would be splattered with bugs after a drive. Today, this is far less common—a quiet but powerful signal that something is wrong. Insects and microfauna are disappearing at an alarming rate due to land-use change, habitat loss, and industrial farming practices.
These tiny creatures play a huge role in keeping ecosystems functional and resilient. They’re essential for maintaining healthy soils, supporting pollination, cycling nutrients, and controlling pests naturally. Even our sensory experience of the world—its smells, colours, and flavours—are deeply tied to plant-insect interactions. Many spices we enjoy, for example, exist because plants evolved chemical defences against insects.
Insects also serve as a crucial food source for many animals, including birds. However, despite their importance, many insect populations are declining due to habitat loss, climate change, and the use of pesticides.
Bugs are the pulse of the planet
When we conduct Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV), we assess ecosystem health through four key processes: energy flow, water cycle, mineral cycle, and community dynamics. As Malcolm White eloquently put it, they are the “four musketeers of nature”—all for one, and one for all. These processes are deeply interconnected. A shift in one will always ripple through the others.
Within this system, insects and microfauna are central to the mineral cycle—decomposing organic matter, digesting nutrients, and integrating minerals back into the soil. A healthy insect community also helps regulate ecological balance. When predator species decline, pest populations can explode, threatening crops and food security.
A loss of insect diversity isn’t just a biodiversity issue—it’s a sign that entire ecosystems are beginning to unravel and break down. By monitoring bug populations, we gain critical insight into the integrity of natural systems and the trajectory of change.
In short: no bugs, no balance—no future.
Join us in regenerating life with EOV
Bugs aren’t just a detail—they’re a foundation. These tiny creatures serve as nature’s most reliable monitors of regenerative progress. By supporting regenerative practices that prioritise soil health and biodiversity, we can help restore the balance that sustains all life.
Our Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) programme recognises this fundamental truth. EOV measures key indicators of land regeneration, including soil health, biodiversity and ecosystem function, with insects serving as critical biological indicators of these processes. These “Leading Indicators” provide real-time insights to farmers, enabling them to take swift corrective action where necessary across their land and livestock.
When we monitor the biological activity at the soil’s surface and track the presence of beneficial insects, we’re listening to what the land is telling us. EOV gives the land a voice of its own, through empirical and tangible outcomes, and bugs are speaking loudest of all—telling us whether our soil ecosystems are thriving or declining.
Becoming part of the EOV programme is a step towards realising the unrealised potential in your soil, people, organisation and community. It’s about recognising that the smallest creatures often carry the biggest messages about ecosystem health.
Learn more about Ecological Outcome Verification monitoring and how you can get involved in restoring nature’s processes—starting with the bugs that make it all possible.
