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Where have all the insects gone?

sciencemag.org

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Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#51

Post by theandrewbailey »

sloppycee wrote: post #38
ashark wrote: post #9

Interesting. So maybe it wasn't just my imagination. I remember butterflies being everywhere in Spring in this area when I was a kid. Fields and air full of 'em for weeks. Monarchs especially, but all kinds. I haven't seen that kind of thing even once in probably a decade, at least. And the windshield thing. I hadn't really thought about it, but I remember my parents having to scrape the windshield just about every g…

I always just chalked it up to the "there were more thunderstorms when I was a kid" phenomenon (that a large number of people will remember there being more thunderstorms when they were children, despite studies suggesting the number of thunderstorms has remained constant). It's not really surprising to me though, at least in my neighborhood in Toronto there has been massive urbanization; there are no more wild field…

> I always just chalked it up to the "there were more thunderstorms when I was a kid" phenomenon

That's a thing? I thought that since the house I grew up in at the time didn't have A/C and had a leaky roof just meant that thunderstorms were more important to the family. Not having A/C meant that the windows were open on hot days when thunderstorms were more likely, then had to hurry and close them when one happened. The leaky roof meant get some buckets and towels.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#52

Post by prestonbriggs »

giardini wrote: post #50

Lots of speculation present in the article, which points out the need for some good science to determine whether we're facing an imminent insect population collapse or its "business as usual". As for the cars... More cars and more car miles this year than in yesteryear means fewer bugsplats per vehicle mile. I would assume that, once a vehicle has swept past a volume, the bug population in that volume is restored by…

Read the rest of the article.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#53

Post by [deleted] »

ythn wrote: post #14
cpfohl wrote: post #5

They're all terrifying wasps or yellowjackets now. And they're all constantly trying to build nests in or near my house. I thought this was universal knowledge...

You thought it was universal knowledge that 80% of insect biomass has dropped in nature reserves around the world with no obvious cause?

[deleted]

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#54

Post by musha68k »

giardini wrote: post #50

Lots of speculation present in the article, which points out the need for some good science to determine whether we're facing an imminent insect population collapse or its "business as usual". As for the cars... More cars and more car miles this year than in yesteryear means fewer bugsplats per vehicle mile. I would assume that, once a vehicle has swept past a volume, the bug population in that volume is restored by…

From the article, past the first paragraphs..

"Over that time the group, the Krefeld Entomological Society, has seen the yearly insect catches fluctuate, as expected. But in 2013 they spotted something alarming. When they returned to one of their earliest trapping sites from 1989, the total mass of their catch had fallen by nearly 80%. Perhaps it was a particularly bad year, they thought, so they set up the traps again in 2014. The numbers were just as low. Through more direct comparisons, the group—which had preserved thousands of samples over 3 decades—found dramatic declines across more than a dozen other sites."

"The mass of insects collected by monitoring traps in the Orbroicher Bruch nature reserve in northwest Germany dropped by 78% in 24 years."

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#55

Post by jmcqk6 »

VA3FXP wrote: post #18
Daishiman wrote: post #13

So when will people stop minimizing that, literally, the planet is dying?

When will people stop with this hyperbole? The planet; as-in this rocky, water-world orbiting Sol, will exist for BILLIONS of years. The _life_ on this planet AS WE KNOW IT is dying, along with ourselves. That is a huge difference and one that needs to be repeated with as much clarity as possible. Will homo-sapiens still exist in 10,000 years? maybe. 100,000 years? doubtful. 1,000,000 years? nope. Will single-celled…

>The planet; as-in this rocky, water-world orbiting Sol, will exist for BILLIONS of years. >The _life_ on this planet AS WE KNOW IT is dying, along with ourselves.

Do you honestly think the person who said this doesn't understand that rocks aren't alive and will keep on existing whether there is life on it or not?

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#56

Post by arethuza »

jostmey wrote: post #28
fivestar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it has much to do with homeowners and lawn care. If anything, it has to do with the thousands of square miles of cropland that gets sprayed for insects each year. Then again, you get outside any of the cities and the windshield gets bug splattered as always. Trillions upon trillions of insects versus humanity? I'd bet on the insects.

This belief that nature has control over the planet is sadly mistaken. If humanity wanted to, it could nuke the planet eliminating all insect life. Humanity has invented things far beyond the reach of nature and far beyond what nature can cope with.

"it could nuke the planet eliminating all insect life"

We'd have to spend a while building a supply of big cobalt-salted bombs because the nuclear arsenals we've actually had have come nowhere near to the level required to wipe out all people let alone all insects.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#58

Post by notadoc »

Arizhel wrote: post #29
jostmey wrote: post #8

"The mass of insects collected by monitoring traps in the Orbroicher Bruch nature reserve in northwest Germany dropped by 78% in 24 years". That number is scary. If that number is even close to the same across the world, the planet is in more trouble than anyone realizes

This is rather worrisome, but I sure didn't see any lack of mosquitoes last summer :-( Maybe this is affecting the "good" insects while the "bad" ones are thriving...

There is truth to that.

Data demonstrates that disease carrying pests like mosquitoes and ticks are proliferating, while pollinators are vanishing.

That is really not a good trend.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#59

Post by ludoo »

strictnein wrote: post #22

> 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1—with some pretty sleek lines. "I used to have to wash my car all the time. It was always covered with insects." Lately, Martin Sorg, an entomologist here, has seen the opposite: "I drive a Land Rover, with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator" It wouldn't surprise me at all if a modern Land Rover was more aerodynamic than a 1969 Mustang. The Land Rover wouldn't look it of course, but the 1969…

The Land Rover in question is probably a Defender, with a design substantially similar to the original model from the '50s. It really is a refrigerator on wheels.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#60

Post by phkahler »

rojobuffalo wrote: post #37
jostmey wrote: post #8

"The mass of insects collected by monitoring traps in the Orbroicher Bruch nature reserve in northwest Germany dropped by 78% in 24 years". That number is scary. If that number is even close to the same across the world, the planet is in more trouble than anyone realizes

That is a very troubling signal. But I wonder if over 24 years, some insects have developed trap avoidance.

Particularly those in the areas of the traps :-)
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