31–40 of 213 posts
Years ago, my family used to drive to our grandparents' village in hot, summer Friday nights. The windshield ended so pestered with dead bugs that the first task on Saturday morning was to drive the car to the river to clean it. I remember it vividly because it was so fun to wash the car with the cold river water. Last August I went stargazing with my wife. We chose a secluded area because it was far away from light…
Whatever it is, it's not happening to mosquitoes. This entire summer I had at least 5 of them buzzing around my head every night- and I did swat at least half of them each evening.
My dad claims that the bugs come and go in cycles and says he has seen so several times over his life. He believes that we are just in a period of low bug population and that at any time there could and will be a population explosion. Personally I am not so optimistic. My dad moved around multiple times over his life and I would suspect different areas would naturally have varying bug densities and that is why he fel…
Years ago, my family used to drive to our grandparents' village in hot, summer Friday nights. The windshield ended so pestered with dead bugs that the first task on Saturday morning was to drive the car to the river to clean it. I remember it vividly because it was so fun to wash the car with the cold river water. Last August I went stargazing with my wife. We chose a secluded area because it was far away from light…
I have similar memories from my childhood in the 80's. We lived in Savannah and would make the trek to North Georgia several times a year to visit my mom's family. I can remember the headlights illuminating a sea of bugs like a light snow and the bigger ones popping loudly on the windshield from time to time. Having a full reservoir of wiper fluid was crucial and my dad would let me scrub the windshield whenever we s…
Grazing land and more importantly meadows are simply gone. According to Wikipedia, England and Wales have lost about 97% of their hay meadows. Meadows are artificial, but they increase the biodiversity significantly.
Neonicotinoids are probably also to blame.
Climate change must be negligible in comparison, but it seems that everything can be blamed on climate change. War in Syria for instance.
re: "Lister and Garcia attribute this crash to climate. In the same 40-year period as the arthropod crash, the average high temperature in the rain forest increased by 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures in the tropics stick to a narrow band. The invertebrates that live there, likewise, are adapted to these temperatures and fare poorly outside them; bugs cannot regulate their internal heat." No doubt, this is alar…
Have any of these studies found places where insect populations have not declined at all?
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-aedes-mo...
Why does it come as a surprise that we are bleeding this planet dry?
Stop having kids and consider dying early.