Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you be more inclined to blame neonicotinoid pesticides?
Presumably because their entire purpose is to kill insects?
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Study shows massive insect loss
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Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#62I'd be more inclined to blame neonicotinoid pesticides than change in temperature, but seems plausible I guess.
Why would you be more inclined to blame neonicotinoid pesticides?
Because changing temperatures would move insect habitation ranges around, meaning you'd see insect species outside of their previous range (and indeed we do see that). Industrial scale use of insecticides, on the other hand, is more consistent with large scale die-offs.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#63My wife and I leave large portions of our lawn untended. We seed ours with flowering native plants and herbs. We had fireflies and butterflies and bees galore this year— noticeably more than any of our neighbors. It’s not much, but it’s something.
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Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#64I'm pretty sure this is more related to a rather radical shift to a more industrialised agriculture the recent 40 years. 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 co…
The article specifically addresses and refutes this:
>Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico... [it] remains the only tropical rain forest in the National Forest system
>Lister pointed out that, since 1969, pesticide use has fallen more than 80 percent in Puerto Rico
The article also provides several - reputable, scientific - references that demonstrate a predicted loss of insects in tropical regions from thermal pressure.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#65I really like all the innovations with indoor farming. But I have always thought that it’s missing a huge chunk of the bigger picture. The rest of the eco system and habitat. Traditional farming(as we know it) is not that close to nature. It’s is essentially an open air factory for food...largely aided by chemicals and a lot of brute horse power. In all this, nature and it’s balancing effects are lost.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#66Similar to what others have said here, I've noticed a marked decline in dead bugs on my vehicle following cross-country road trips over the last 10-15 years.
I never have to clean my windshield of dead bugs anymore. The first time I visited the midwest after moving to CA, something like 10 years ago now, via i80, the front of my car was completely covered with insects to the point you could barely see the paint.
Every successive year I made that same trip the dead bugs lessened until there was simply no need at all to even clean my car upon arrival.
Things are changing, there's no doubt about it.
I just hope the species evolving to thrive in the emerging conditions are as easy to cohabitate with as the ones going extinct. Other than a small subset like mosquitoes, wasps, ticks, and some spiders, insects have been rather hospitable to us. Maybe not so much in the future.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#67My wife and I leave large portions of our lawn untended. We seed ours with flowering native plants and herbs. We had fireflies and butterflies and bees galore this year— noticeably more than any of our neighbors. It’s not much, but it’s something.
Same. We have what in some parts of the world would be called a "country garden". A mix of flowering natives and imports. We have bugs (especially bees) galore. Have now taken to leaving out suitable fruit scraps in the garden and water as well, and have been attracting small and large (raven) birds too.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#68I'd be more inclined to blame neonicotinoid pesticides than change in temperature, but seems plausible I guess.
Large agriculture has been an ecological disaster for decades. Pesticides, fertilizer runoff, heavy usage of herbicides, water mismanagement and foolish introductions of non-native species to counteract invasive pests making situations worse. Pollution, pollution, pollution. Is climate change making some kind of impact? Possibly. But it pales in comparison with reckless use of poisons and chemicals.
TFA is about a roughly 80% drop in biomass in a pristine, protected tropical rainforest, in a country where pesticide use has dropped 80 percent.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#69Years 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 went camping in west Texas last summer and any lights we had on attracted enormous swarms of flying critters. I do not say that to discount you or OP but rather to console with the fact that there are still times and places where this occurs.
Re: Study shows massive insect loss
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean like Proof of Work mining?
I a more generalist sense just things like using Electron vs native toolkits matter. The desktop Discord app is going to use substantially more power to run day to day than if it were a native code app that just used something like C++, and across millions of gamers for hours a night every night those resource requirements and power demands add up. It isn't always just "average hardware is faster so use more ineffici…
Presenting "not using Electron" as a significant way to reduce our impact on the environment has to be the most HN thing I ever read.