The insects that pollinate the apples, which make the cider that gets sold to sustain a multimillion-pound
business, are a kind of ecological glue. Take them away, and several bits of a
system can start to fall apart. For example, flowering plants either stop producing seed or fruit,
make much less of it, or change the quality of what they do produce. When it comes to
conserving the natural environment, this is important to understand. It is arguably even more so
in relation to food (and drink) security. About two-thirds of the world’s crop plant species rely on
animal pollination, and to that extent bees, butterflies, beetles and all the other species that help
plants to complete their life cycles ensure that we continue to eat.