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Study shows massive insect loss

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#111

Post by saiya-jin »

CptFribble wrote: post #98

At what point does the cost of continuing the status quo outweigh changing it? How do you even measure something like that, when the people in charge of making changes won't live to see them? I think a major problem humanity has, among many others, is the way we assign leadership roles. Leadership of major institutions should be balanced not just among gender, but also among age. Every government should include decis…

You cant' expect some age limits will anyhow fix this. Plenty of amoral hawkish young people out there.

In same vein, older people tend to have more clear view on whats really important in life, it ain't got anything to do with fast cars, flashy fashion or being popular on instagram. If they have kids and grandkids, they will be at least as concerned as younger should be.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#112

Post by saiya-jin »

njarboe wrote: post #85
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 a…

What exactly do you mean by controlled burn? If it is what I think it is, you will kill many insects that call that lawn their home. Not really good for anything (plus the risk of burning down the neighborhood)

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#113

Post by pvaldes »

Cars, Pesticides, and habitat loss.

There is nowadays also a general phobia and fear towards nature in general. Millions of people (driven by decades of publicity) had assumed that a backyard with tall grasses is a sort of unforgivable sin. They run compulsively towards their fancy lawnmower (and their magic products against each single plague known in the continent) each weekend.

But if you loose the grip and let a small space of lawn alone (Maybe cutting it three times a year instead 30 times a year). The thing will bloom and attract thousands of species of invertebrates including many butterflies and rare beetles. Is a very satisfying change. Small backyard ponds give also a big life boost.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#114

Post by mfukar »

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…

If you substitute "the bugs" with "climate change", this gets a lot hotter.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#115

Post by DennisP »

ethbro wrote: post #53
akiselev wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's such a minor thing when it comes to our day to day but becomes truly terrifying when you put it all together and look at the big picture. I've noticed the same thing about wild-life in general whenever I visit my favorite places from childhood - whether it's the reefs around Australia, the tide pools in Baja, or the inland empire desert I grew up in. Looking at actual research just makes it worse: a third of mic…

> And so, slowly, we boil. Climate changing power, without the wisdom to wield it, is as plausible a Great Filter as anything. Hard to develop a space program when you're spending all your production fighting over scarce resources, plugging leaks, and attempting to feed a planet with decreasing yields. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

Yep. This is something people get wrong about the old Limits to Growth study: they assume it's just about running out of resources. Actually a key feature of the model is that you spend more and more resources on dealing with the effects of environmental damage.

The interesting result was that, given that dynamic, your economy keeps growing and everything looks great, then suddenly it all crashes down.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#116

Post by Dylan16807 »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #44
cmpaul wrote: post #29

> The invertebrates that live there, likewise, are adapted to these temperatures and fare poorly outside them; bugs cannot regulate their internal heat. This makes me think that the insects which do survive will be better adapted to the higher temperatures. Hopefully the change is slow enough they have time to adapt. And this is nothing to say about the impact of that adaptation time on other species...

Problem is the temperature keeps changing (upwards). If it was a step input, then you might see a sudden die-off and then a ramp back up. But the temperature change is, to first order, a ramp input.

Problem? Slow ramps are the ideal way to drive adaptation. That's why finishing a course of antibiotics is so important.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#117

Post by pvaldes »

cmpaul wrote: post #29

> The invertebrates that live there, likewise, are adapted to these temperatures and fare poorly outside them; bugs cannot regulate their internal heat. This makes me think that the insects which do survive will be better adapted to the higher temperatures. Hopefully the change is slow enough they have time to adapt. And this is nothing to say about the impact of that adaptation time on other species...

Arthropods can trive in the worst deserts of the planet. They just will hide by day, will migrate or look for shadowy areas. On the other hand is practically impossible to obtain funds for saving the rarest species. There is an everlasting pressure to trim and chew the borders of the protected areas.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#118

Post by kamaal »

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…

If we are talking of Anecdotes. Mosquitoes in India have only increased.

In fact one of the things I enjoyed during my stay in the US was absence of mosquitoes.

Just that one single data point felt like ridiculous upgrade in the quality of life department.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#119

Post by z3t4 »

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…

A really hard winter followed by a dry summer and there will be almost no insects. Now a wet summer followed by a warm winter followed by a wet summer and maybe some other factors, like plenty of food for the insects, their population will explode in no time.

Re: Study shows massive insect loss

#120

Post by kamaal »

ethbro wrote: post #53
akiselev wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's such a minor thing when it comes to our day to day but becomes truly terrifying when you put it all together and look at the big picture. I've noticed the same thing about wild-life in general whenever I visit my favorite places from childhood - whether it's the reefs around Australia, the tide pools in Baja, or the inland empire desert I grew up in. Looking at actual research just makes it worse: a third of mic…

> And so, slowly, we boil. Climate changing power, without the wisdom to wield it, is as plausible a Great Filter as anything. Hard to develop a space program when you're spending all your production fighting over scarce resources, plugging leaks, and attempting to feed a planet with decreasing yields. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

>>Hard to develop a space program when you're spending all your production fighting over scarce resources, plugging leaks, and attempting to feed a planet with decreasing yields.

All the more reason to develop your space program.

At the risk of pointing to Movies, but yet, one of the underlying themes in the movie Interstellar is some day there will be no option but to leave.

So its about time we think seriously about mining asteroids, space colonies and having some kind of permanent self sustaining and growing colonies in space.

Sure Humans are still likely to have the same problems, but you have eliminated the biggest threat to our existence, and we now have thousands of years at our disposal to plan the next steps.

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