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Insect Die-off: Even Common Species Are Becoming Rare (sciencedaily.com)
Scientists at Senckenberg Nature Research Society and Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been able to show that currently widespread insects are threatened with a serious decline in species diversity in the near future. From the report: The research team lists the fragmentation of habitats and the intensification of agriculture as reasons for the decline of these "generalists." According to the study, published today in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, the genetic diversity among the examined butterfly species is also expected to decline sharply in the future -- as a result, the insects will become more sensitive to environmental changes.
... what do you mean it's winter?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
If there are no more butterflies, what will real programmers use? :https://xkcd.com/378/
Since part of this is caused by an increase in agriculture, a big one is to eat less meat. This doesn't mean be a complete vegetarian, but just eat less meat and more non-meat options. The acreage used for meat as a food is much much higher than the same for most vegetarian options https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1097070.pdf and this also helps shrink one's carbon footprint http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet. Given that many meat substitutes are cheap, this can pay off nicely. Moreover, in the US now there are many more genuinely tasty vegetarian options than there used to be both in terms of store-bought items and in terms of available high quality recipes. I remember when I was a little kid and we went to my vegetarian aunt's for Thanksgiving, and it was awful. The situation now is very different.
Not in Middle Georgia at least. I'm inundated by bugs of all types. My car is covered in them from driving at night, they fly all around my yard, they eat the fruit on my trees, my vegetables. They need to come here and collect all they want, free of charge. For a fee I'll box a swarm up and ship it to them.
I have a feeling that one factor is that contributes is the lack of small farms with mixed livestock grazing the land and dropping fresh manure at random.
A number of butterflies are also thriving on plants that we consider weed (not the type you smoke) like nettles. And nettles thrive where the soil is highly fertilized - preferably by natural manure.
But today cattle are often on large farms where the manure handling is strictly regulated.
Overall the problem is that farming is getting highly specialized instead of diversified and that causes a monoculture of plant life with very little other vegetation permitted since it will contaminate the crop.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
I've noticed that during the summers growing up even just 2 decades ago fireflies were all over the place. Now they are a rare sight. Sadly though, whatever has done in the fireflies hasn't done much to the mosquitoes around here.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
No danger there. The mosquito species that commonly bite humans are the ones that are adapted to living in proximity of humans. What is habitat destruction for other species is habitat creation for them.
For example Culex pipiens is so well adapted to coexiting with humans its common name is "house mosquito". Clearly it didn't evolve to live around humans. In its natural habitat it laid its eggs in mucky forest puddles and fed on birds. Wipe out the forest and replace it with a suburban subdivision and you actually increase its egg laying habitat: ditches, poorly draining gutters, catch basins and so on. Populations have developed a taste for human blood too -- evolution in action -- and because it still bites birds is a perfect vector for many viral disease that cross from avian to human populations.
Something like this always happens when there is widespread habitat disruption: most species populations are harmed but a small number of them hit the jackpot: what biologists call "weedy species". Mice, voles and pikas are all very similar small woodland creatures, but its ability to adapt to human activities transforms the mouse in some situation into a nightmarish plague.
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It definitely is.
That doesn't change the fact that I think a world which get to keep all the amazing animals and plants it have had is much more interesting than one with much less variation of them.
I'd much rather than 20 different types of cat animals than 1.
I'd much rather than 5000 different butterflies than 2.
Maybe the later would be the case of man induced changes and evolution but that doesn't mean I think it's better. Also I think the diversity pool is a strength for evolution by itself.
The more difference the better the change of being able to handle some other change.
We shouldn't destroy it on purpose / by ignorance just because "well it is what it is." Because the situation is better now than what it would be afterwards. Both in genetic and just "look at the pretty" diversity.
The planet is not in a death dive. It may be that human civilization is and we may take a lot of species with us but after we're gone give the planet a couple million years of evolution and it will be just as alive as it was before humans arrived on the scene.
Spray insecticides and herbicides with abandon, and not simply turn the land into Mordor.
It is not global warming, it is partly habitat destruction and mainly the fact that we dump a crap ton of toxins designed to kill these creatures into the environment EVERY DAY!!!