According to a recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation , "dramatic rates of decline may lead to the extinction of 40 per cent of the world's insect species over the next few decades".

The global study identified habitat loss and conversion to intensive agriculture as the biggest driver of the decline, with agri-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change also contributing.

But at the University of Canberra, researchers are already working on projects they hope will help address the factors behind what the study warns would be a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems".

Their work covers a variety of areas including how native vegetation could provide shelter for insects to escape the impacts of climate change and heatwaves, and whether probiotics could be used to strengthen bee hives and make them more resistant to a fungal disease.

Freshwater ecologist Professor Ross Thompson said his research had exposed insects to heatwaves, with "striking" and variable results.

He said in some cases, male and female insects would emerge as adults at different times, meaning they weren't ready to reproduce at the same time.

"Clearly, that would generate an extinction pretty quickly if that was to happen in the field," Professor Thompson said.

"We’ve also had situations were insects were changing in size dramatically.

"They were emerging later in the year and smaller, or emerging very early in the year and becoming very large, which obviously has consequences for animals that feed on them as well."

Professor Thompson said he had also done work on the impacts of land use on insects, finding that areas that maintained their native vegetation stayed cooler during heatwaves.

"One of the things that we've proposed is that by replanting native vegetation, you can actually provide refuges for invertebrates to shelter from heatwave events and climate change," he said.

Dr Michael Frese, who is researching the use of probiotics to save bees from chalkbrood disease, said he and fellow researchers Dr Murali Nyudu and Dr Doug Summerville had isolated more than 1500 strands of bee gut bacteria.

He said it appeared that the more bacteria a bee had in its gut, and the more diverse that bacteria was, the more likely a bee was to be carry out the "upkeep and house maintenance" needed to keep its hive hygienic and protect it from diseases.

The researchers are developing probiotics that could strengthen hives and make them resistant to chalkbrood disease, or help affected hives recover more quickly by killing the fungus that causes the disease.

"The overarching thing is to develop some kind of assistance for beekeepers to get their hives through crisis," Dr Frese said.

Associate Professor Dr Ben Kefford has been examining the impact of chemical pollution from pesticides and suspended sediments and nutrients on freshwater insects.

He said insects were collected from around Canberra and brought back to laboratories for experiments to test how they respond to environments where only certain pollutants were present.

Part of his research was around mayflys, and how they declined in waterways as saline levels rose.

"These freshwater insects are really interesting and cool parts of the environment that are often overlooked," Dr Kefford said.

"We think of insects in our gardens and forests, but we don’t often think about insects in freshwater.

"Ninety per cent of the animal biomass in rivers and streams is actually insects, so things like fish, crayfish and mussels are relatively rare."