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VA Tech Experiment: Polar Vortex May Decimate D.C. Stinkbugs In 2014
barlevg writes "Each fall, a team led by Virginia Tech Professor of Entomology Thomas Kuhar gathers brown marmorated stink bugs from around campus and plops them into ventilated and insulated five-gallon buckets designed to simulate the habitats in which the bugs naturally wait out the winter. While previous lab tests have shown the insects capable of surviving chills of -20 C, last month's polar vortex proved too much for the little guys, with only 5% surviving the sustained cold conditions. This suggests that the DC area's population of stink bugs and other overwintering insects should be much lower come spring than in previous years."
Who's in favor of more stinkbugs in the spring?
Oh great now there will be nothing to cover the stench of the politicians in congress.
All the breathless Polar Vortex talk reminds me of yesteryear when the local TV weather people discovered the big, bad "El Nino."
I sometimes hear the effects of climate change blown off with glib remarks about longer growing seasons.
The truth is, good hard winters are good for certain types of agriculture. Freezing and thawing churns up the soil. Hard frosts kill off weeds and pests.
Now we have another data point.
Don't decimate. Annihilate the bums in Washington.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Come on...
now if it could only decimate the D.C. population of politicians
"I don't pitch OpenSUSE Linux to my friends, i let Microsoft do it for me
And on the other side of the Atlantic, the strong jetstream (caused by the abnormal cold in the eastern States) has led to one of the mildest and wettest winters on record in England. I was surprised when last weekend I saw swarms of newly-hatched flies buzzing around the fields of Berkshire; you don't normally see those until late March or early April. To see them in mid-February is quite remarkable. We'll be in a for a miserable spring and summer over here as there will be far more insects buzzing around than normal due to the almost complete lack of frost this "winter" (and I use the term loosely, as for millions of us in the south of the UK it's just been an extended autumn this year!)
Most of DC's stink bugs have heated offices - not to mention plenty of interns to keep them warm through the cold winter nights.
#DeleteChrome
Hopefully it'll screw up our pine beetles out west, too.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
-20 is not negative at all. Its' well above 0. Ballsy almost. Iam' for DC and no this all ready.
It has been a record breaking hot summer with multiple heatwaves across the country.
Crocodiles are being found further south than their natural range.
That all makes perfect sense, except for that one part about everything
We used to call it an "Alberta Clipper" and they have happened every so often throughout the years. Guess what? Some winters are colder than others!
The rule has always been a good, hard winter means less sickness the next year. I don't know if that means less animals or insects transporting agents of disease or what.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
They won't be decimated, they survive here in Alaska. Not sure if it's an adaptation but they make it through 8 months of snow and ice just fine.
And you forgot to link to goatse. Can't you do anything right?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
5% survival is not being decimated. That would be 90% survival. If the guy is a scientist of sorts, you'd think he could get such a simple thing correct.
What a stupid farking name. It's called Winter. It happens every year.
a pseudonym?
We had a mild winter that failed to kill off the wiggers. We were infested with them all summer.
causes you to evolve.
This year, 95% of stinkbugs have been killed off due to extreme cold (-20C), leaving 5% left.
In 5 years, the 5% that survived the -20% will be 100% of the population.
The next polar vortex won't kill nearly as many because all those that are alive have already survived extreme cold and are thus genetically better than those that died this year.
Darwinisn and natural selection in progress!
if we decimated DC then 90% of them would be left
Devastate would mean that 10% would be left (which is what happened to the stinkbugs btw).
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
It finally got up into the 50s yesterday and I had two in my (Northern VA) garage. It's not even Spring....
Sorry, but most of the stink bugs in Washington, D.C. live in heated homes and migrate daily to heated offices in the federal district. They won't be harmed in the slightest by this freezing weather.
And that's a pity....
The population of species fluctuates depending on weather variations!
Hopefully it also works on stinkbugs infesting congress...
"Polar Vortex" -Isn't that what we've known as an Arctic Cold Front for decades?
Right up there with naming winter storms by those wingnts from Atlanta.
I have no doubt that the 5% will survive and multiply. The 5% that made it through are the strongest and most adaptable. That is the way nature works. Duh! I thought the guy was a professor. I wonder how the mosquitos did? Another post mentioned that this stink bug was an invasive species. Too bad, so sad..... In DC, all they have to do is let the politicians out of their cages and bullet proof cars. That would provide enough hot air to warm things up anyway.
I know my relatives up in Minnesota despite their bitching about it being -60 are glad that it's decimated the ash bore beetle infestation. Up here in the north east we're hoping it'll have the same effect on the Asian longhorn beetle as well.
Though evolution being what it is, enough of these really cold winters and we'll just have populations of these insects that can winter over these temperatures.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
As in, check-mate.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
I live in the Philadelphia Area. When I was young there used to be lady bugs everywhere, Due to the stink bugs, the last time I've seen a lady bug in person was about 11 years ago. When fall comes, every window door and crack is covered with them trying to get in. Sometimes, when I'm not paying attention, I walk out the door into a cloud of 40+.
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A copy of this order has been sent to your email address but the stinkbugs will probably arrive first.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
...they were referring to the professional denizens that inhabit the capitol?
Slashdot, I'm disappointed.
Politicians and bureaucrats suddenly discover global warming is an ally, not a threat.
Surely someone can do better.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
now the next generation of stink bugs are going to super resistant to cold...way to go evolution.
Wish the polar vortex would get rid of the real pests in D.C., Congress.
Sprinkle tat on .. Kills them dead.
Former terminex.