Disproportionate declines of formerly abundant species underlie insect loss - Nature - eviltoast
An analysis of more than 500 sites distributed worldwide finds that declines in the abundance of terrestrial insects are attributable mainly to decreases in species that were formerly abundant, rather than being the result of losses of rare species.
  • deo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    6·
    11 months ago

    I remember when I was 16, I got in trouble for driving on the interstate (I was only allowed to drive around town at the time). I asked my mom how she knew, and she pointed out all the dead bugs on the front of my car. There are definitely fewer bugs now than there used to be.

    • Saeculum [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      A lot of the insects have definitely died, but, cars are hugely more aerodynamic as well, and a car that shapes the air to flow around it won’t be slamming into bugs as it drives.

      • deo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Huh. I hadn’t thought of that! In this case, though, I drove that same car for 14 years.

  • Hillmarsh@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    I’m not surprised. An instance of this would be the monarch butterfly which was abundant when I was a child. Then there were years where no one saw them and they even were presumed extinct in our area. Finally in 2016 I saw them again in a different part of the same state I was living at the time, and slowly they returned. But the overall volume of insect life in general is down. I would guess a large part of it is owing to both destruction of habitat and excessive use of pesticides. Suburbanization in my region has accelerated this process.