I know most readers here see me as a nature nut and always harping on about some crisis or other in the weather or the environment, but this latest report, upon which this very readable article is based is frightening. I suspect the worldwide picture is that insects are declining at an increasing rate due to the over use and abuse of pesticides primarily, and then loss of habitat. One cause human activity, especially industrial farming. But anyone using these chemicals, especially the neonicotinoids is adding to the problem - they are horrible substances which act on the nervous system and turn up in all sorts of foodstuffs including honey.
I have been noticing the loss of insects for a number of years without really considering how big the problem was, and its knock on effect, the loss of insectivorous animals like birds and bats and dormice. Now it all makes sense why I don't see cockchafers or spotted fly catchers when both occurred in my garden every year. The writing is on the wall, if we don't stop these declines soon, we're going to be in big trouble and what will we do then - eat a farmer?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/21/insects-...
In case people have forgotten what an insect looks like, here's one.
Large skipper butterfly.
Comments
Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann did a good segment on his radio show yesterday about this topic. Here is a link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20A9RRl77_A
I guess we have "your" bugs
Scientist are claiming there is an unusual increase in bugs and one in particular the stink bug
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/10/22/stink-big-populatio...
Would you like for me to ask them to ship to you a collection to restock your decline in insects?
Have fun with life it's too short to take seriously
always,
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Totally agree
with you on this one. That's why I don't spray anything apart from a soap solution to stop the Blackfly/Greenfly.
Even the humble Daddy-longlegs are not as prolific as they used to be. Lots of beetles in my rotting wood pile though (and woodlice and centipedes)
Those Nocotinoids are nasty chemicals. The sooner they are banned outright the better.
I didn't get a Carrot Fly invasion this year but this might down to me planting Onions amongst the Carrots.
Samantha.
PS, there is nothing wrong in being a nature nut!
Insect loss
Yes, I've been reading similar articles. The last one I read suggested that the world-wide insect population is approximately 10% of what it was a century ago.
The effects of this are catastrophic, as you have suggested. All of our crops are polinated by insects. Vast numbers of birds, bats, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish rely on insects as a large part of their diets. By any estimate, should we continue this trend, it will be the demise of insects, not climate change or nuclear war, that will kill all the large animals of this planet.
The good part is that once we are gone, the insects will make a huge comeback!
Red MacDonald
interesting but possibly premature?
Honestly I take much of what researchers that are counting on grants to continue researching may publish with a grain of salt. A great example is all the publication on global warming. The fact is that we do not have enough data collected over a long enough time period to to make any statements about how we may or may not be affecting the global climate.
Our last couple of winters here in the Midwestern US have been mild, which has an immediate and direct effect on the amount of "bugs" that survive to the spring and summer, giving those of us here in the Midwest an overabundance of various insects this year.
While pesticides are a concern for beneficial insects such as honey bees, getting rid of crop destroying insects is a much larger concern. Think of the consequences of the state of Iowa suddenly losing most of its crops due to some plague, blight, crop eating insect. The state produces 20% of the corn grown in the US and 30% of the pork and that is only the two top products.
To put this in perspective the amount of farmland in Iowa is larger than the country of Ireland. 92% of Iowa is farmland (Ireland the percentage is 60%). The reason I used Ireland? Look what happened there when a major crop was destroyed.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
I find...
That if I keep my eyes tightly closed, there’s absolutely no problem at all.
It's not just the chemicals
At a local nature reserve, this year's population of damselflies were decimated as the sparrows had learnt to catch them and had a feast. I know it's nature, but the sparrow is not as pretty or challenging to photograph.
Hopefully enough eggs were laid to provide more damselflies next year
What has this to do with this site?
Angharad is very much interested in the natural world. Her love of Doormice is well documented.
Many of us are also concerned with the changes that we humans are inflicting on the world around us.
It is nothing to do with LGBTQ but with our survival as a species. If there are no insects, then lots of our food will just disappear from the shops.
My post earlier were my observations this year compared to others. Not statistically valid but just my POV.
That IMHO affects all of us.
Samantha
It's true that...
Anyone who regularly reads a newspaper is subject to a daily round of bigotry. I prefer to get my facts from the scientific press. Read that and you will find...
Shi*! It's even worse! More life has died out on this planet in the last few years than in the entire history of mankind. Crop propagation is at serious risk, and since most of our food comes directly or indirectly from crops, so are our lives.
If you find that too scary, go back to the Daily Bigot. I'm sure they'll say some soothing words to keep you quiet until you die from starvation.
PS: The problem with putting the Guardian in the toilet is that people spend too long reading it.
Insects
Here in the center of the city, Portland, Oregon, I rarely see any but a few flies. If I leave food to rot in the sink, of course there are more.
A few weeks ago I was at an Astronomy "star party" in the middle of a mowed wheat airstrip in the wheat country of Central Oregon, wearing a knee length skirt and t shirt and the little buggers ate me alive. A few were recognizable as mosquitoes, but others were tiny venomous little devils. Midges? Do we have them? I quickly put on leggings and that seemed to keep the torment to a minimum, though I was ill and in bed for a few days after.
On the other hand, I've been near the treeline (6000 feet) on Mt. Hood, hiking in the volcanic sand and not been bothered. Since birds eat insects, I would expect their population to be down.
Insects
I totally agree with you we are going lose our song birds for one and losing our bees for another for overused pesticides the bees badly needed in food production not just for honey either it just a by product bees do most of the pollination of our food production plants we eat which also causes the plant that our cattle and other farm animals eat that fatten our cattle and the food that chickens eat to produce our eggs that also eat insects are part of the food products so have the food on table and without them we won't have food on our tables either which mean starvation worldwide.