When we speak of pesticides causing overall insect decline, we must keep in
mind the corn earworm and rootworm, the Colorado Potato beetle,
grasshoppers, aphids, caterpillars, etc.  How are they able to survive, if
it is downstream traces of pesticides that are causing such decline of other insect species?

While I see the logic of your position, it occurs to me that the thing that makes things pests is what allows them to survive despite our efforts to control them. Traits make certain species invasive, while others are extremely fragile. 

Take Japanese knotweed. It's not that it is non-native that makes it a pest, it's that it's almost impossible to kill. Other plants are so sensitive that the slightest pressure causes them to fail. 

The same goes with invertebrates. It's said that cockroaches will survive the third world war, but other species have already been lost, like the Xerces Blue Butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces). A similar species was lost in England

PLB

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