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Study shows massive insect loss

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#81

Post by steve_adams_86 »

heurist wrote: post #69
carlesfe wrote: post #10

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 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.

I find I tend to see a lot of bugs during hatches. You only see one kind, it lasts a few days, and then it's back to normal. Maybe that's what you saw.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#82

Post by codyb »

gnulinux wrote: post #48
DEADBEEFC0FFEE wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is literally what I love about the English language. You can easily generate new words that are easily understood. In the same thought, it's completely unnecessary.

Hmm what do you mean by English language? I cannot think of a language that wouldn't let this (maybe a very analytic language, like Mandarin?). This is probably a universal property of human languages.

I don't speak German but I've always had the impression they love mashing words together to make super long but informative words.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#83

Post by DoreenMichele »

codyb wrote: post #82
gnulinux wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm what do you mean by English language? I cannot think of a language that wouldn't let this (maybe a very analytic language, like Mandarin?). This is probably a universal property of human languages.

I don't speak German but I've always had the impression they love mashing words together to make super long but informative words.

Yes, that's a thing they do in German. Instead of post office it would be postoffice. Instead of train station it would be trainstation. (Only in German, obviously.)

Not exactly what's being described above though.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#84

Post by sitkack »

anonytrary wrote: post #45
carlesfe wrote: post #10

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…

That the environment could slowly transition its chemistry into a state which is not suitable for life is one of my biggest fears. It would be a silent killer.

I am not convinced that life on the planet will survive. We could very well turn into Venus. Maybe we did already. In previous cataclysmic events, life was spread en masse to low earth orbit, to return after the fires died down and the earth cooled off. We have no such seed bank in orbit now.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#85

Post by njarboe »

christophilus wrote: post #60

My 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.

After the three year California drought and not watering the lawn much during it, I just let the grass and wild flowers grow up without mowing the last few years. Lots of different kind of plants, many bees, etc. Pretty cool, although some people comment on how we have let the yard go. I wish I could do a controlled burn at the start of the rainy season.

On the other hand, I recently learned what a carpenter bee is and what they can do to exposed wood structures. This year was the first time I had them boring into the wooden eves of our house. I have mixed feelings when I see them now.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#86

Post by rstuart4133 »

carlesfe wrote: post #10

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…

Just another data point to add: exactly the same thing has happened here in Australia. The family used to regularly drive 2000km on holidays. Dead bugs covered the windshield and radiator at the end of each leg.

Today with cheap plane fares we don't drive so much, but I still do a one 1000km drive every 5 years or so. I don't recall washing a single bug off whereas when I was a kid scraping dried bug guts was a major chore.

76% sounds almost too low, but I suspect the the biggest bugs are the hardest hit and they caused the mess on the car. I don't remember when I last saw a locust. They used to be a major problem. We used to have surfaces carpeted in beetles during their breeding season, and yet this Christmas I was actually surprised when I saw a Christmas beetle.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#87

Post by malandrew »

carlesfe wrote: post #10

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 wonder if part of the effect can be explained by the improved aerodynamics of cars. I used to drive a 1966 FJ40 Landcruiser about 10 years ago and remember having to clean bugs off the car. I don't have as much to compare it to as you since I've only been driving since 1996, but I didn't notice any major difference in that time period.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#88

Post by jungletime »

Can confirm, its happening in Canada too. When I was a child, the car windshield used to get covered with bugs, but its not happening anymore. Drastic change. Even driving up north, where you would expect very little human induced influence. Where have all the bugs gone? even windows has fewer

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#89

Post by lostapathy »

bsdetector wrote: post #75
carlesfe wrote: post #10

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…

> and only a few bugs died on my windshield. Smoother airflow around the windshield means fewer bugs smashing into it and more glancing hits that don't leave a mess. Traditional hard edged cars like Jeep Wrangler seem to get a lot of bugs on the windshield (based on brief Googling), so while there may be fewer insects I'd wager to guess aerodynamics is large factor.

Can confirm aerodynamics are part of it. I drive a 2013 Jeep Wrangler. Wife has a brand new, aerodynamic vehicle. Jeep definitely collects bugs, bird poop, and even rocks at a MUCH higher rate.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#90

Post by mikestew »

14 wrote: post #15

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…

I’ve lived long enough in just one area alone that I should have witnessed at least one of those cycles. I have not. What I’ve seen is a steady decline over the last thirty years (over which time I’ve lived several places).
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