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Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#81

Post by devmor »

alangibson wrote: post #56

I recently went back to my hometown in the USA after a couple of decades away. I was struck by how there we're almost none of the fireflies, grasshoppers and assorted other bugs I'd chased as a kid. I chalked it up to being a nostalgic old man, but I've never shaken that feeling that something is definitely not right.

I saw Fireflies for the first time two years ago after moving to the Southeast US.

I saw very few last year. I saw zero this year. I'm glad I got to experience them before they were all gone, I guess.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#82

Post by goodpoint »

LordHeini wrote: post #71

Having super quick evolution cycles, could it be that insects evolved to avoid roads? I remember the story of a species of moths living in German industrial cities. These were normally brown like tree bark but evolved to look like sooty brick in a few years. Insects have ears (although highly varying in capability) which could lead them to avoid dangerous zones. Anecdotally i would say i see fewer insects circling ar…

> Having super quick evolution cycles, could it be that insects evolved to avoid roads?

No.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#83

Post by newsclues »

fleddr wrote: post #74

Here in the ultra-dense Netherlands, threats to insects are magnified. As such, it's easier to point to specific causes. Butterflies: 50% reduction in 50 years. Beetles: 75% decline since 1985. Ladybugs: 50% reduction in 20 years. Across the border in Germany: a 75% decline in flying insects since 1989. It doesn't take much of a scientist to see the trend. I've been hiking the forests here multiple times per week for…

Is there a push to move to smaller regenerative farms occurring?

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#84

Post by globalise83 »

badtension wrote: post #68
globalise83 wrote: post #33

Probably a large part is due to the increased frequency of cars inside broadly the same volume of road space. Assuming that you have the same number of bugs per m^3 and the same number of bugs entering per m^3 per minute as before, then bugs splattered per car will change in inverse proportion to cars per minute.

I think you grossly overestimate how much space does car infrastructure hold in relation to literally millions of km^2 of free space around it. Assuming your observation is right its impact would be minuscule.

But we're not discussing the free space around roads, I'm talking about the width of the road X length of road X 2.5m where the bugs get splatted. If there are more cars travelling in that space, fewer bugs will be splatted by each car even if the level overall remains the same.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#85

Post by another_story »

vlovich123 wrote: post #17

To everyone replying “aerodynamics”, I’ve had the same car for about 9 years now and the drive along the 5 from Bay Area to LA feels like there’s fewer bugs on my windshield (granted not recorded diligently for scientific purposes but whereas before I’d need to scrub the windshield at least once halfway these days I can drive all the way and still don’t need a wash at the end) Same goes for the argument that bugs hav…

I actually find it rather interesting how many people here, in a forum I generally assume to be better informed than elsewhere, seem wholly unaware of the dramatic decrease in insects over the last few decades.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#86

Post by INTPenis »

alangibson wrote: post #56

I recently went back to my hometown in the USA after a couple of decades away. I was struck by how there we're almost none of the fireflies, grasshoppers and assorted other bugs I'd chased as a kid. I chalked it up to being a nostalgic old man, but I've never shaken that feeling that something is definitely not right.

Sad and frightening to hear. Funny though but here in southern Sweden and Denmark I've had the opposite experience.

Sometime around 2018 I started noticing a lot of fireflies, in a park in the middle of a major city. Which was not normal to me. Since then I've noticed them almost every summer.

And on vacation in Denmark it's the same thing, the air is alive with life. It has its downsides too because there are more ticks than ever too.

A lot of cities here have started leaving grassy areas uncut, they just cut a path through it for people to walk on. Also Copenhagen has started building "walls" of twigs, encased in a wire mesh. These walls act as safe havens for all sorts of insects and small creatures.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#87

Post by jay_kyburz »

devmor wrote: post #81
alangibson wrote: post #56

I recently went back to my hometown in the USA after a couple of decades away. I was struck by how there we're almost none of the fireflies, grasshoppers and assorted other bugs I'd chased as a kid. I chalked it up to being a nostalgic old man, but I've never shaken that feeling that something is definitely not right.

I saw Fireflies for the first time two years ago after moving to the Southeast US. I saw very few last year. I saw zero this year. I'm glad I got to experience them before they were all gone, I guess.

My kids are 10 and 11 and the saw their first grasshopper last summer. They were everywhere when I was a kid. Christmas beetles are a rare find these days. I haven't seen a Bogon moth in years.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#88

Post by WJW »

newsclues wrote: post #83
fleddr wrote: post #74

Here in the ultra-dense Netherlands, threats to insects are magnified. As such, it's easier to point to specific causes. Butterflies: 50% reduction in 50 years. Beetles: 75% decline since 1985. Ladybugs: 50% reduction in 20 years. Across the border in Germany: a 75% decline in flying insects since 1989. It doesn't take much of a scientist to see the trend. I've been hiking the forests here multiple times per week for…

Is there a push to move to smaller regenerative farms occurring?

Yes, but the farmers are (obviously) not in favor and have been protesting heavily.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#89

Post by pfdietz »

I wonder if it's some introduced wide spectrum insect pathogen. Sort of like that fungus that's devastating amphibians around the world? If so, the part of the world that pathogen came from would not be seeing these declines, since the insects there would have long before evolved to deal with it (as amphibians in SE Asia, I think it was, apparently have done with that fungus.)

Possibly some strain of Wolbachia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolbachia

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#90

Post by IncRnd »

globalise83 wrote: post #33

Probably a large part is due to the increased frequency of cars inside broadly the same volume of road space. Assuming that you have the same number of bugs per m^3 and the same number of bugs entering per m^3 per minute as before, then bugs splattered per car will change in inverse proportion to cars per minute.

There are fewer bugs that hit the windshield even when on a rural interstate.

There are many areas that have cars but aren't in the middle of cities or in areas with high traffic.

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