Turning 30 this year and the difference amount of bugs between now and my childhood is insane. There used to 1000s of firefly’s out at night every summer now I don’t see any.
Considering you're in an environmental NGO, what do you recommend to tackle the invasive spotted lanternfly? The local government said to stomp them and to remove any tree of heavens that pop up.
Outside my office, we have about two dozen, fully-grown milkweed plants that I made sure to keep the landscapers away from. I have not seen a single butterfly, nor caterpillar. Hopefully, it's just early and the eggs haven't hatched. But, all I see so far on them are those green "shit flies." One on each leaf, which is even creepier.
You can have mine if you want. This has been lit worst year for wasps and ants and I've had a pest service this whole time. Admittedly they're using pretty mild treatments but still.
I have been thinking of posting , asking others the same thing! I have seen not one yellow jacket this year. We had a bunch of European Wasps (look like bigger yellow jackets) move in last year…haven’t seen one of them either. It’s concerning.
Central Ontario.
I’m 41 and this is truly noticeable, some saving grace is I have a creek cabin that is filled with them. When I started driving I would have to stop on road trips to wipe my windshield from bugs after a few hours, haven’t done that in 15 years now.
Part of this is newer cars. Insects are definitely declining, but car shapes have changed and they generally deflect insects rather than hit them now. You need very high insect density to see much bug splatter on a modern car.
My parents own some ancient cars and on road trips with them (my family in a modern car and them in the old ones), the difference in bug guts on each car is quite dramatic.
I just want to point out that is not what the science says. Research and testing indicates newer cars aerodynamics actually pull bugs closer and therefore should theoretically cause increased bug splatter. Research indicates the decrease in the windshield effect is 100% due to decreasing bug populations.
["“The most surprising thing was how rarely we actually found anything on the plate at all,” said Tinsley-Marshall. This was despite the data showing that modern cars hit more bugs, perhaps because older models push a bigger layer of air – and insects – over the vehicle."](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-splatometer-tests-reveal-huge-decline-number-insects)
None of what you linked to is scientific. It’s a journalists notoriously poor understanding of scientific articles and principles.
This article explains how it actually works: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/BGP/boundlay.html
Although you did provide some science regarding aerodynamics that does not match what the science is showing for actual bug splat research.
Here is a sample from both the 2019 and 2021 research papers released by The national Citizen Science Survey: Performed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.
[Here](https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-02/Bugs%20Matter%20report%20website%20version_0.pdf) is an excerpt from the 2019 paper directly addressed older vs newer cars:
"The second limitation we addressed concerned a criticism levelled at the methodology in terms of the effect of vehicle design on the rate of invertebrate sampling. Modern cars are more areodynamically designed than in the past, and changes over time may affect the numbers of insects getting squashed. We actively recruited classic car owners to take part in the survey, allowing us to collect data using cars ranging in age from 1957 to 2018. We found a small but statistically significant positive relationship between vehicle age and splat density, suggesting that modern cars squash more invertebrates that older cars (Figure 3b). This suggests that the signal from the difference in insect abundance is strong enough to beapparent inspite of more efficient sampling by newer vehicles. "
[Here](https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-05/Bugs%20Matter%202021%20National%20Report.pdf) is an excerpt from the 2021 paper directly addressing different sizes of vehicles and how larger/less aerodynamic vehicles result in less bug splatter: (HGV-Heavy Goods Vehicle - Like a box truck or semi truck):
"The results of the ZINB zero-inflated model showed that the odds of a zero-count journey occurring increased by 2.9 times between 2004 and 2021. The odds of a zero-count journey occurring increased by 1.01 times with each 1% increase in the proportion of a journey that was conducted on secondary roads. Furthermore, the odds of a zero-count journey occurring increased by 1.94 times if the vehicle was a HGV rather than a car and 3.28 times if the vehicle was a SUV rather than a car. The odds of a zero-count journey occurring decreased by 1.15 times with each hour in the day, decreased by 1.17 times with each one degree increase in temperature, and decreased by 1.3 times with each unit increase in NDVI. In addition, the odds of a zero-count journey occurring decreased by 1.02 times with each mile increase in journey distance. These relationships were statistically significant"
>The second survey, in the UK county of Kent in 2019, examined splats in a grid placed over car registration plates, known as a “splatometer”. This revealed 50% fewer impacts than in 2004. The research included vintage cars up to 70 years old to see if their less aerodynamic shape meant they killed more bugs, but it found that modern cars actually hit slightly more insects.
I'm not sure how measuring bugs on the license plate would lead you to make claims about whether car aerodynamics are more or less splatty on the windshield
Turning 30 too. Crazy how even us could see the world change in a latter of decades, if not years. Ladybugs, scarabs and so many others... Feels like there is 'nothing left in my home region anymore. The trees in the Vosges are also turning red and dying because of a sickness caused by the ever warming climate. And the generations of our parents and grandparents don't give a sh*t about that, they had to work hard when they were younger, now they should fully enjoy life or retirement. Fck this selfishness. Fck this stance. Fck our politicians. Fck Shell, fck Total, fck BP, fck Apple, fuck BMW, Stellantis, VW AG, fck vinci Autoroutes, fck Holcim-Lafarge, fck them all. Seriously. Good luck to the kids that are still being born every day. Although it won't matter very long...
I feel it’s particularly sad for our generation idk about where you grew up but in America where I’m from there was just so much hope for the future when I was young. Sure there were problems climate change but we were going to beat it. But no we just got to watch things become worse and worse. Most people in the past generations don’t care because they already have theirs and it just sucks and it’s sad. Even people our age are still having kids and acting like nothings wrong which I just cannot understand at all. For I am personally without hope for the future these days.
Thankfully I've recently seen a return in my area. I hadn't seen a lightning bug since the 90s, then last summer I saw some at a friend's place. This summer they've made it into my neighborhood. Still very few, but it made me happy. Tiny victories.
It's probably just my area, maybe a change of what products were on the market. I've never been a lawn guy so I don't use fertilizers or pesticides and don't know what the local home depot stocks, but something changed a couple years ago and we're slowly recovering.
Quit raking your leaves! That’s where they mate and lay their eggs.
I swapped my lawn for clover and wildflower. The amount of fireflies, bugs, birds, etc in my yard versus my neighbors yard is wild. His yard is manicured like a golf course, and totally lifeless.
I'm the same way - very hands off with my garden here in Japan. But the other day I found a bipalium (a nasty, often neurotoxic flatworm that eats earthworms and is notoriously hard to kill - if you chop or squish it, it only multiplies) and apparently they thrive in dark, humid environments like leaf litter. Not sure how to strike the best balance.
Apparently it's an apex predator! XD Good idea about the plants, though, I need to look into it. I have no idea how the world isn't overrun with them, there must be a way to keep them in check...
No need for clover. If you must rake, set up a spot to keep the leaves in your yard year round and keep adding to it. Never use pesticides of any kind and plant native plants. Helping increase insect populations and diversity is easy, while being inexpensive to free.
I have about a 10’ border between my property line and my dog fence where I basically toss all of my compost. I’ve made several mounds with a winding path through it, and it’s all underneath mature trees. I’ve been throwing seed down as well, but want to plant some ferns — they do nicely up here.
the problem is I live near some wetlands and seeds from there blow into my yard. I have about half wild and half grass. the wild part is a bit difficult to manage because all kinds of crazy weeds start growing in it. mowing the small grass part keeps the weeds mostly at bay. sometimes i have to wack it back hard in september and reseed.
Fully on board with you there. I've also got a dandelion "problem" every spring. I'm unfortunately legally required to keep the lawn short, but otherwise the leaves fall where they may and any woody clippings from shrubs also get left to sort themselves out.
My parents have a big backyard, I remember when I was little pretty much the whole yard would be lightning bugs. Lighting up at different times was magical.
Yeah, I feel like all of the missing bugs must be in my yard. A couple of neighbors decided to let part of our yards go to meadow, we don't rake leaves, we don't use pesticides, and we've put in a ton of native plants and nectar plants. The lightning bugs are having a great year, and the bats are happy too.
While good advice, it honestly isn't possible for the masses due to HOA complaints/neighbor complaints etc.
Instead of giving the advice to homeowners, we should be lobbying to have those outdated 'pristine yard' rules amended.
Actually, funny you say this. I've noticed a significant increase in fireflies this summer. In fact, I just saw an article about it: [https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-so-many-fireflies/](https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-so-many-fireflies/)
To most people, bugs are pests to be exterminated, not a part of the ecosystem that predates us by millions of years.
More I see, more I'm convinced we deserve everything coming our way.
I remember growing up my dad had this van to comfortably fit all of us, and it had this screen over the engine intake and dad had to take frequently, now I never see bugs
Remember when you'd have to scrub your windshield at gas stations constantly after traveling on back roads? I never have to do that anymore. Hell it was so bad people would put those bra covers on their cars
I had this memory out of the blue the other day. I’m 37, I remember when I was a kid in the backyard there was tons of insects fluong every which way, it was chaos at certain hours. Now there’s basically nothing.
I stopped raking leaves in the fall a few years ago and have a ton of fireflies ever since!! Still notice I haven’t had to stop at a gas station and squeegee my windshield in ages but at least I have little bugs with ass lights to cheer me up.
That’s … shocking. Increasing native plants in your yard, avoiding pesticides, and providing habitat (nesting space and materials) will bring them in and get them to stick around. If you support them, they support you. The dizzying range of pollinators in my yard is quite amazing. From big fat bumblebees to tiny wasps and hoverflies. They all help.
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As a kid in the 90s I remember running across our front lawn as grasshoppers hopped away from me left and right. These days I'm lucky to get one or two.
I’m 47 and started to notice this about 10 years ago when visiting family on the East Coast. I grew up in the area and remember being constantly harassed by flies and other bugs during summer, but starting in the mid aughts the number of bugs seemed to drop off precipitously.
I grew up semi-rural and am 33 now.
We used to have all kinds of bugs and birds around. Last 10 years it's obvious how much the population of both is dwindling.
I'll be gardening and barely meet a few ants or a stink bug here and there
Actually, because of the very wet spring we had where I am (or so I heard this as the reason), we have an exceptional amount of fireflies this summer.
Otherwise, yeah. Barely any bugs anymore (except mosquitos and ticks, of course). My windshield hasn’t been plastered with dead bugs in decades.
It’s definitely alarming and scary, but I’ve known about this for years. It’s been noticeable for years.
I'm 40. When I was a kid growing up on a very rural hobby farm in the 80's and 90's, the fields were full of fireflies at night. Dragonflies swarmed around the barn, and the windows wee literally covered in moths at night. Bees and butterflies were everywhere all summer. Anthills were common and massive. And it's not just bugs. Bats, Frogs, Salamanders, toads... everywhere.
That farm still stands, and it's just as rural as it always was, but when I'm back home all the life is gone. All the animals are still there, but it's...kinda rare to see any of them. I swear it seems like there's only 10% of what there was... or less, especially for moths, bees, bats, butterflies, fireflies and dragonflies. It makes me tremendously sad to see the damage we've caused to this world, even in the remote rural areas where I grew up. I think I levy a lot of the blame for my particular region on ceaseless glyphosphate spraying and clearcutting.
I kinda hope the collapse wipes us out, and that nature can recover. I don't have any faith that humans at large can be responsible stewards of this world.
I'm in my 40's, grew up in a rural area too, not actual farm but smalltown area. The weirdest shift to me (in terms of insect loss) has been the lack of crickets. Those big black ones with the kinda flat bodies...seems like they've nearly totally disappeared.
Wow, I kinda hadn't noticed somehow, but you're right... and grasshoppers too! I used to catch great big grasshoppers as a kid, they were everywhere... I'm not sure the last time I've even seen a grasshopper now. That's kinda terrifying.
Heh, that's right...I actually just saw a grasshopper the other day, flipping itself down my front walkway...and I think it's the the first one I've seen all summer.
I remember crickets being the background music of the night. Now night is quiet. I can't remember the last time I heard any that wasn't in a remote location.
I have a wild backyard and front yard. About 110 different native species. My house and the houses surrounding my space are the only ones with cricket sounds at night.
Its a light din sound instead of the caucaophony it should be. Its scary as fuck.
Growing up in rural Rensselaer County, Upstate New York in the late Summers the katydids and the cicadas were so loud you could barely even have a conversation... Last decade of so it's been consistently less and less, despite the land remaining virtually unchanged.
SS: This is related to collapse because insects pollinate the crops we rely on—such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts. If insect populations continue to fall, farmers may have to rely more heavily on chemical pesticides, which can harm the environment and human health. In addition, insects are a vital part of the food chain. Many birds, fish, and other animals depend on them for survival, so when insect numbers drop, it affects a wide range of species and can lead to larger ecological problems. The loss of insects directly affects our food systems, our environment, and our very existence.
The article actually states that insect populations declined by 75% between 1987-2017.
Do we have new data on the insect extinction between 2017 and 2025?
Well that doesnt look encouraging at all. Meanwhile folks are out there thinking tech will save them and not paying attention at all to whats happening biosphere wise.
Tech will save some of them, the ones building their palatial bunkers underground, but we'll be facing a population collapse within 10-20 years that will decimate the rest of us.
That's a mighty hubristic assumption. Humans cannot plan for every variable If the population hits a low enough number, it will only be a matter of time before they die off. Humans are not 100% self sustainable in a vaccuum. If our planet is mostly desolate from climate, die off, imbalance, scarcity... how can tech overpower that? I mean, plants will soon stop photosynthesis from overheat, the oceans will eventually acidify and release toxic gasses into the atmosphere... Even if a pocket of humans could somehow survive prolonged collapse, their existence would be miserable and, without the dynamic abundance of the past (manpower, resources, energy) rather short.
How about we stop them now before they even get to that point! 😁
If it doesn't work, then we'll have the satisfaction of knowing they'll fail horribly after all the horrible shit they've done.
That would track with what I'm seeing this year, although I'm not in the UK. It's terrifying in a way that freezes you right down to your bones. I can go 2 months without seeing a butterfly. The pollinators are down at least 80% - my gardens are empty and flowers are dying without producing seed pods. The only bugs I'm seeing in any large numbers are ants and mosquitoes.
Maybe it's the microplastics getting to the bugs, and not just the herbicides and pesticides and warming climate.
If anyone has an idea to pollinate that works better than a Qtip, let me know.
We feed birds with seeds. We feed insects with wildflowers. Just looking for good backup plan.
I've found that a small makeup brush works best.
Doesn't help much for crops from trees that need pollination, though. But half of those crops will end up victims to flooding or sea level rise.
>insects pollinate the crops we rely on—such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts. If insect populations continue to fall, farmers may have to rely more heavily on chemical pesticides, which harm the environment.
This is missing some words or you have a misunderstanding of this issue.
Right now it reads like you’re saying pesticides can fix the issue brought up in the previous sentence. Pesticides cannot pollinate, and you cannot spray more to make up for missing pollinators
You could say less bug -> less natural enemies of crop pests -> more pesticides to make up for missing predation. If that’s the idea you’re going for you need to add some words to that sentence because right now it requires a lot of extrapolation.
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My neighborhood is actually increasing in bug activity. However this is mainly because the neighborhood is half nature and there’s like a lot of trees. Enough so that rabbits and even Hawks come through.
This neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of concrete hell, so, take that as you will
The majority of not all environmental issues are because of animal-agriculture, it is the lead cause of environmental destruction, specifically in this case, habitat loss, turned in to monoculture pastures and grass.
Go vegan.
Folks are happy to complain about collapse pretending they care but how many bother to give up animal products? Especially when it’s ridiculously easy to do these days.
They’re content blaming governments and large corporations (and they do share a large portion of the blame), but abdicate their own responsibility.
Just sick and tired of seeing the same old song and dance.
There are also local effects that paint a concerning picture. This year in the U.K., it appears like we are having something of a bug revival, with wildlife subreddits going nuts over the explosion in butterfly and other insect numbers.
But could this be certain species benefitting from the ever-increasing summer temperatures here? We break new temperature records every year, and the U.K. is currently experiencing a long, hot and dry summer.
There are regular sightings of new and exciting (read: invasive and annoying) species arriving in the U.K., usually along the south coast before they spread northwards.
Will climate change prioritise these newcomers at the expense of indigenous wildlife, or will existing U.K. species find a way to thrive alongside them? I think it will be a little of both. Some U.K. wildlife is doing well in the heat, but it’s a lot easier to spot an increase in something than an absence. What are the ones suffering while others benefit?
I really cannot understand how anyone can look at all this information and **NOT** come to the conclusion that we've shit the bed so bad and that there's absolutely no way we can fix this. It's too late and we're going down---and we're taking a metric fuckton of innocent species with us.
I think what the main problem is is that folks just intentionally ignore/avoid many of these stories. It's denial, and it's that they just don't wanna know 'cause they don't want their way of life impacted, nor do they want the guilt for their own part in it. Sadly, I understand all that, but that's the most cowardly, chicken-shit and irresponsible way to avoid addresssing their personal responsibility and their role in all of this.
At the end of last year, I reconnected with a very old friend from the '70s. We were talking for a few months, but for ~3 months now, he's been ghosting me. Why? I'm sure I probably said something about global heating or the total unsustainability of the American way of life. Even though we haven't seen each other in 25 years, I KNOW he's driving some big-ass, super V8 truck that just sucks gas and spews emissions, for which he totally has no need. At this point, I'm sure we'll never speak again because of what I said, he deemed highly critical of his lifestyle and choices, and rather than look at that and address it---or even have a dialog with me about what I said---it's easier to label me as a Marxist, eco-terrorist, Satanish, Bolshevik, whatever, I don't give a fucking fuck any-fucking-more.
Sadly, people want what they want and finding the ability to look inside, develop a wee bit of self-awareness and change one's perspectives and values is not on the menu for far too many.
Sadly², practically everyone on this sub exhibits, everyday, tremendous, unrecognizable courage---just by looking at our current circumstances, accepting them for what they are, and realizing the inevitable destruction resulting from our societal choices. I learned years ago that once one takes off those rose-colored glasses, they cannot put them back on again. Ever. Sure, folks have tried---I'm sure I have---but the internal self-betrayal, guilt, shame and dishonesty immediately becomes too much, so that they shed those rose-colored glasses for good. Also, too, I've realized that very, very few have the courage to look into the abyss. For those of us here, we should be proud of our courage and our persistence in continuing to peer into that abyss, seeking the sources of our situation---even if we're powerless to stop 99.99% of it all. For some strange spiritual reason, WE need to know the causes of our situation. Maybe if not for history, but maybe for truth and karmic responsibility.
Tragically, we've found that the power of capitalism and society are far too great and that 8.1B people seeking a constructive solution that will save our global ecosystems just ain't gonna happen.
I think what really illustrates to me how much we screwed up is that insect declines during mass extinctions are typically very limited, except for one mass extinction, The End Permian Extinction. I think it is becoming more and more likely we are about to experience an extinction event on a similar level to the End Permian. About 82% of their insect species went extinct and if I had to guess the actual numbers of insects began declining significantly before their extinctions came to pass.
As it relates to insects I think it highly probable our extinction level will be similar if not possibly higher due to the additional pressures we have on them, via land-use, chemicals, etc.
Great post. Felt every bit of it, including needing to break ties with people once considered friends.
We are a species of storytellers and we always opt for the comfortable lie as opposed to the harsh truth; that bill is coming due but I suspect the denial will get even more insane before any meaningful societal changes happen. People are selfish at the end of the day and will not relinquish their comforts or privileges without a fierce, potentially fatal battle.
A study in the Netherlands, shows that pesticides like Imidacloprid (a neonicotonoid) become much more harmful at higher temperatures.
This because the metabolism in insects changes at higher temperatures, where the intake of pesticides by insects becomes much higher.
Part of the newspaper [article](https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/insecten-hebben-meer-last-van-de-warmte-als-ze-ook-gif-binnenkrijgen~b62edcaa/), via Google Translate.
>The researchers examined various stressors: imidacloprid in water at normal outdoor temperature, the insecticide in water 4 degrees warmer, and in water that is 8 degrees warmer for a week and then returns to outdoor temperature for a week, simulating a heat wave. They also examined warmer water without insecticide.
>Imidacloprid alone or warming the water alone had no significant effect, but the combination of both resulted in a 47 percent decrease in the biomass of emerging insects, they write in an article published in early July in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology.
>"Warmth changes the insect's metabolism," explains Van den Brink. An animal absorbs and excretes chemicals, just like we humans do. But at higher temperatures, absorption increases more than excretion. This increases the concentration of the substance in the insect, and with it, its toxicity. The toxicokinetics, as we call it, changes. After laboratory tests, we had predicted this result. But almost a halving is a significant reduction; we didn't expect that.
>Experiment in the tropics Although a test was conducted with imidacloprid, you can assume that the effect also applies to many other chemicals, says the professor. "The combination of rising temperatures and insecticides is therefore partly responsible for the decline of insects.
So, if humanity starts to use less pesticides and it gets cooler, we have nothing to worry about. (/s).
It's funny, as I was actually going to post a similar thread today. Things are BAD. I just don't think most people even notice. Here in SW Connecticut, USA, bugs are barely present. I walk by flower beds constantly and there is nothing there. Mosquitoes seem to be fine, as do yellow jackets, but that's about it. It's dead outside.
Last week, we were in Cape Cod, MA. The distinct absence of ANY insects, outside of a few mosquitoes was palpable. Our friends have very nice landscaping, with plenty of flowers. Not once did we see anything other than a dragonfly or two.
Remember all the bug splatter we'd get in the summers on our car windshields? Me, too. Now? One or two a week.
The bugpocalypse is already here and getting worse by the minute.
I let large chunks of my garden grow wild, pulling only the most dangerous invasive weeds. And I never use insecticides. The bug population on my property has skyrocketed. This might be a solvable problem BUG BY BUG. We just have to stop treating them like pests. A whole cultural shift is required.
I only have a small yard, but simply not using pesticides, replacing my landscaping with native plants, and learning about insects so I can support them through their lifecycle. This has vastly increased the population and diversity in my yard. I have populations of prey (aphids, beetles, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and so many more), predators (like wasps, spiders, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, etc), decomposers, and pollination specialists (solitary bees, bumblebees, etc), all of which are stable to growing. These in turn have attracted birds.
Every one of us can make a difference in a direct tangible way. Food is another way, but that’s a bigger effort (organic still generally uses pesticides).
Same here, I'm rewilding my 5 acre property and the bug population and diversity is insane. I've had 2 years of pioneer plants with little bug diversity but now all kinds of plants are coming up and I see the wildest insects emerging. I've become a sanctuary for a large group of red legged partridges who are feasting on the insects. Each dusk I have an army of dragon flies going wild as well. I love it.
Driving to my parents' house at night as a teen always resulted in having to wash my windshield in the morning. I stayed there last night (I'm in my 40s). My windshield was spotless when I got in at midnight..
I know you’re joking around, but this kind of stupidity is the reason we have actual flat earthers, anti vaccine, conspiracy theorists… in the fucking office.
Can’t go anywhere on this site anymore without seeing the same jokes played out incessantly, forever. Wish there was a site like Reddit where there was serious discussion only. The fact I see the same jokes over and over and over drives me insane enough to not use the site
A Dutch scientist did a study and found on average 2 bugs killed per 6 miles on an area the size of a license plate. If you extrapolate the data, expand the area, and do some basic math, you find that potentially around 200-300 billion bugs are killed per year in the UK alone.
Go to America, where people drive more and have larger vehicles, and you have possibly 500 billion deaths per year, including 9 billion butterflies and 24 billion bees.
That's just in one year. So yeah it's statistically quite significant in areas with high human population, although perhaps not on a world level.
And much more prevalent. We had about 200 million people in the US in 1970 and now working towards double at 350 million in 2025. That's a lot more vehicles and fly swatters.
"oh well ..good, they're only bugs" that's what people say, they don't realise the gravity of this.
I'm in central Italy and live rurally, so we've had lots of fireflies this year and butterflies.
However, there's insects that used to be common here, that I haven't seen in 3 years, such as the 6 spotted burnet moth.
You see, if we just cut out the foundation, we can build the tower higher! I can imagine amphibious/aquatic life is in a similar state...so up the food chain, higher and higher.
Humans were created by the natural world. We are part of it and can not survive without it. The wealth people had was not in gold bars, private property, or fiat currency. When the natural world goes, there's no getting more, no bankruptcy, and no inflation to smooth it over. It's just gone...
>You see, if we just cut out the foundation, we can build the tower higher!
Yup, our entire economic system is built like a game of Jenga. Make the tower higher by cannibalizing the support beams.
And the "win" state is only to make sure the other guy's holding the bag, when the thing inevitably collapses.
Silver lining about that is that these weather shifts do help propagate them elsewhere. The fireflies are surging more than I've ever seen before this summer, in Michigan...not just my observation, people all over MI are talking about how it's the most they've ever seen in maybe 20 years. They like hot and humid with little breeze, and that's what our spring/summer has been like this year.
Maybe their larvae ate all the mosquito larvae though, because it absolutely does feel like there's 90% less mosquitoes this year. I hate them...I live near wetlands, so they're usually horrible levels, but this year, it's almost eerie how absent they are.
A few years ago, I asked /r/AskOldPeople if they remember there being more insects. A lot of pretty telling anecdotes, for sure.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/y1h2a6/studies_show_that_inscect_populations_are_rapidly/
Yeah just thinking about the road trips as a kid and the amount of bugs smashed onto the front of the car VS now hardly anything. Granted cars are more streamlined and not as boxy now, but it’s a drastic change.
Registration plates are often perpendicular and are the best place to look. The streamlining of car design has very little impact from what I have read elsewhere.
It has an effect on that as well. The shape of the bodies of cars deflects insects away, even from license plates. This isn’t to save insects, it’s for fuel efficiency. There has been a decline in insects, but there is also a decline in direct hits because they need to be heavy enough to directly hit. Modern cars will deflect most smaller insects and even larger insects usually glance. They need to be very heavy and come in at just the right angle to impact.
We can throw up our hands or we can do something, and enough of us doing something can make a difference.
If anyone wants to help insects in a tangible way, we can all do something, from rural land to suburban yards to containers on balconies to guerrilla gardening. Never use pesticides, only deploy herbicides strategically to kill invasive species, maintain your space to provide what insects need (breeding space, nesting space, nesting materials, water, etc), and grow native plants that support their lifecycles.
r/NativePlantGardening
r/GuerrillaGardening
My garden seems to be teeming with insects. When you provide a diverse habitat with lots of different plant species as opposed to just grass the numbers increase noticeably.
So many bees and rose chafers on the blackberries this year that it was loud being near it. I find rose chafer larvae in all my pots at the end of the year. Some butterflies and dragonflies around most days too. Ladybirds everywhere this year all over the sunflowers so they seem to have all but eradicated the aphids and blackfly issue. Lots of stink bugs on the Plantago and Chenopodium though.
Moths coming in at night if a light is on with a window open is becoming an issue again though mostly I'm just seeing the one species which is probably from the caterpillars all over the native plants I left to grow mostly wild. I haven't seen many moths coming in for years. Wasps keep pestering me in the garden and I found an old paper nest that was abandoned between my compost bins. I'd forgotten how annoying wasps were as I've not seen any in years. The grasshoppers are huge this year and getting too big for the little frogs. I've seen quite a few impressive leaps at flies from them though. Seems to be a lot of large flies whenever we get a heatwave.
Northeastern India. In my childhood, fireflies used to be abundant, especially at my grandma's home in the village. Haven't seen any in a couple years.
and how much of that is due to we actively killing them (i.e. pest control ....) and how much is due to just environment change (i.e. developing wild land)?
This concerns me greatly because of how important bugs are to pollinating plants, especially commercial crops. If the changing climate wasn't already going to mess with food production, lack of pollinators definitely will.
Do you happen to know a reference that tells how important they actually are at the end of the day? I dont want to deny how tragic this is, but if I were to argue over this with someone with a purely human-centered perspective, they may just say "well if 70% of insects are gone, then why are we still growing crops like crazy today?"
I'm 70. We used to hear insects, a constant hum in the background. The last 3 years we've fried baby birds in heat spikes, and those that do make it have zero food. I hear no insects. I don't know the last tinei saw a ladybug, dragonfly. I don't see honey bees, our area has a mite that killed a huge percentage locally. We have no insects of any type in healthy numbers, none.
This subject started with this right?
[Insects Are in Serious Trouble - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/oh-no/543390/)
So funny watching that being criticized:
[Is the Insect Apocalypse Really Upon Us? - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/insect-apocalypse-really-upon-us/583018/)
[No net insect abundance and diversity declines across US Long Term Ecological Research sites | Nature Ecology & Evolution](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-1269-4)
[Worldwide insect declines: An important message, but interpret with caution - PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6467851/)
Only for them now hiding their tail behind the legs to avoid being mocked (cannot find the essay of someone having regrets about downplaying this problem, but will link post later).
It sounds to me like you just don't understand how science works. The original claim wasn't sufficiently backed up by evidence, and was quickly blown out of proportion. The articles you link are critical examinations of the facts and evidence. Your last link is a great example. Now that there's more evidence to justify some of these claims, there's less criticism.
Entomologists and invertebrate ecologists (which includes myself) are well aware of and extremely concerned about biodiversity loss, but we can't just go around making unsubstantiated claims based on "bad vibes" — we need actual data, and that's really difficult when it comes to evaluating invertebrate communities and population trends.
"But despite their importance, insect numbers are declining. In 2017, a devastating study demonstrated that there has been more than a 75 percent decline in insect populations over the last three decades"
If I am reading this correctly, said study is eight years old. So the situation now is most likely even more alarming.
Shit. This makes me realize I’m not sure I’ve see any this summer. I’ve been indoors a lot due to heat/work, and my garden is total trash this year (dry, and the rabbits keep eating anything that might flower), but surely I’d have seen at least a couple butterflies by now. I’m glad you’re seeing them daily!!!
I walk my dog twice a day (morning and evening due to the heat) and make a point to take time and watch any butterflies that cross our path. I've seen maybe three in the last week, and I live in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. :/
I'm turning 32 this year and saw my neighborhood turn from a semi-rural area to an urbanized one. I also noticed there were less insects that you'd see in the countryside such as dragonflies and fireflies. I rarely see fireflies except when I'm deep in the mountains.
I also rarely see a variety of insects in our garden, mostly just the typical flies, mosquitoes, roaches and ants. Spoke to a biologist friend about this. The less biodiversity you have of insects, the less likely that population of larger animals that ecosystem can support. Looking at this from a larger picture, less insects means less predators that us humans can food off of, and also less pollinators for plants that we also feed on.
There used to be swarms of monarch butterflies in Texas every year. Fireflys too. Ifvyou drove across the west part of the state towards Oklahoma, colorado, or new Mexico, youd have to stop and clean,the dead bugs off your windshield cause the wipers and fluid weren't cutting it.
Seems the spiders chose to ignore this, getting more and more in my house every year!
Though maybe that's because there's not enough bugs outside for them to eat?
I'm 34, and the change has been insane. When I was little, if I was meeting a butterfly, firebug, bumblebee, etc... It meant there were scores of them. Now I feel lucky if I see 3 or 4 once I stop to look around after meeting one.
Anyway. The good news is the French government (following a far-right proposal) reintroduced a highly dangerous insecticide knows to cause cancers, and even IQ loss in children (when the pregnant mother has been exposed). The next generation won't have to worry about counting bugs, they'll be too slow and cancerous for that
Pretty sure the big Manitoba smoke killed the bees this year for me.
Same two years ago. Big smoke, very few bees. Yet the invasive beetles are still thriving. It sucks.
Also sucks that instead of summer, we now have fire season.
That’s true I haven’t considered all the wildfire smoke effecting things bugs wise. Fire season is right we even had wildfires where I live this year which hasn’t happened at least as long as I’ve been alive.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/antihostile:
---
SS: This is related to collapse because insects pollinate the crops we rely on—such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts. If insect populations continue to fall, farmers may have to rely more heavily on chemical pesticides, which harm the environment. In addition, insects are a vital part of the food chain. Many birds, fish, and other animals depend on them for survival. The loss of insects directly affects our food systems, our environment, and our very existence.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1m7f2ew/bugpocalypse_insect_populations_tanked_by_75/n4qwbfa/
I’ve been noticing the decline for almost a decade, but there’s been a noticeable drop off this year. Hardly any lightning bugs, no June bugs, and the night bugs are way quieter than before. Way less frogs too. They used to be all over the roads in the summer, I haven’t seen one in ages.
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