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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?

#121

Post by ryan93 »

jorvi wrote: post #109
WJW wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I would replace 'protesting' with 'terrorizing'. They've been visiting politicians their homes with torches, threatening them and explicitly their kids, blockading highways with burning rubble, blocking highways with asbestos , using their tractors to rip out doors out of government buildings. What is most aggrieving to me is that the police is pseudo on the side of the farmers. The head of the police said that he 'f…

I mean placing the blame for climate change on the backs of Dutch farmers was absurd. They should have started with severe controls on importing goods from countries with high levels of pollution

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

#123

Post by scld »

lynguist wrote: post #22

I’ve noticed the same with snails. When I was a child in the 90s, the sidewalks were full of snails, and during a 10 minute stroll, I’d often find tens of small snails. Today I find 1 or 2 snails after rainfall, if at all.

I'm sure it's a regional impact on different types of creatures. I don't notice windshield bugs but my back patio in the city gets dozens of snails after every rainfall to this day.

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

#124

Post by kapsi »

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…

>These were normally brown like tree bark but evolved to look like sooty brick in a few years.

Because the brown ones got eaten. But that's different from evolving to recognize where a road is, which is maybe possible but probably would take thousands or millions of years.

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

#126

Post by nemo44x »

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.

Could be because you aren’t there in the grass and fields actively looking for them. If you garden and spend time in it, it’s amazing what you find.

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

#128

Post by Beltalowda »

luch wrote: post #119
Beltalowda wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually don't care at all if an insect lives or dies. Insects do not have emotions; no other insects mourn if one dies. This makes them markedly different from humans and other animals; insects are little more than machines and from a moral perspective much closer to bacteria than, say, mice. The only reason I care is because of the broader ecological effects. I don't care whether my gut microbes live or die eithe…

fascinating answer from someone who chose the nickname "beltalowda"

Why? What do Belters have to do with insects?

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

#129

Post by kspacewalk2 »

stinos wrote: post #102
dutchbrit wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also sad to see what people are doing to their gardens over here. Fake grass, no plants/just bricks. Not to mention the municipalities mowing nice patches of grass/plants/flowers where insects thrive.

Not to mention the municipalities mowing nice patches of grass/plants/flowers where insects thrive. That lacks an important nuance: in most circumstances (regarding soil type/nitrogen deposition), not mowing at all would lead to those patches being overgrown by fast growers leading to less plant diversity. Can happen in as little as a year or 2. So the mowing itself is not the problem, it's the amount, how and when.

Mowing itself is the problem. Fast growers are just the first step in a recovery process that takes place when a previously stunted ecosystem is allowed to heal. Other types of plants follow in subsequent years, leading to a much more healthy ecosystem than when you mow it all down to hell.

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

#130

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

Beltalowda wrote: post #105
unglaublich wrote: post #100

Pesticides and crop mono-cultures. There is no place for insects to live. When 0.1% of humans dies of a virus, we call it a disaster. When 50% of insects dies, we don't give a damn.

I actually don't care at all if an insect lives or dies. Insects do not have emotions; no other insects mourn if one dies. This makes them markedly different from humans and other animals; insects are little more than machines and from a moral perspective much closer to bacteria than, say, mice. The only reason I care is because of the broader ecological effects. I don't care whether my gut microbes live or die eithe…

Ants are certainly smarter than mice.

Ants also have a complex range of psychological responses. (Not sure I'd call them "emotions" since we're obviously too distantly related to them to have a meaningful reference here, but whatever.)

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