Non-Natural Insecticide Leads to Decline in Helpful Bugs

Insects that pollinate our food and help with decomposition are now in decline, according to scientists. I’m sure none of us would mind the news if it was mosquitoes or roaches, but pests aren’t the ones dwindling in numbers. Scientists have raised concern that the good bugs. Bugs such as native bees, ladybugs, mayflies, fireflies, and lovebugs, are less abundant than summers past.

The issue is, in the past,  they didn’t truly count the population of flying insects. As a result, a proper comparison to today is impossible. Still, though, they’re sure that across the glove there are fewer good pollinating insects as in the past. As much as eighty percent of our food is pollinated by these types of insects, so this is pretty heavy news.

Some insects are pests, yes. But, others pollinate plants and are a key link in the food chain. Not only that, but they help decompose dead plants and animals.

Entomologist

“You have total ecosystem collapse if you lose your insects. How much worse can it get than that?” said University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy. If they disappeared, “the world would start to rot.”

He noted Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson once called bugs: “The little things that run the world.”

The 89-year-old Wilson recalled that he once frolicked in a “Washington alive with insects, especially butterflies.” Now, “the flying insects are virtually gone.”

One way scientists have noted the decline is something called the windshield test. Now, you may find this un-scientific, but give it a try when you get the chance. They also noted that baby boomers will notice the difference more than younger people.

These scientists have conducted their own windshield tests, and note that the amount of squashed bugs is much less than the past. Obviously, this isn’t the most sound research in the world- but it’s hard to deny the truth of it.

University of Florida

University of Florida urban entomologist Philip Koehler said he has seen a recent decrease in lovebugs — insects that fly connected and coated Florida’s windshields in the 1970s and 1980s. This year, he said, “was kind of disappointing, I thought.”

Last year, a study found that eighty-two percent was the decline in the number of weight and bugs captured in traps. This was in sixty-three nature preserves in Germany compared with only twenty-seven years earlier.

It was one of the few if only, broad studies. Scientists say similar comparisons can’t be done elsewhere because similar bug counts weren’t done decades ago.

“We don’t know how much we’re losing if we don’t know how much we have,” said University of Hawaii entomologist Helen Spafford.

The lack of older data makes it “unclear to what degree we’re experiencing an arthropocalypse,” said University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum. Individual studies aren’t convincing in themselves, “but the sheer accumulated weight of evidence seems to be shifting” to show a problem, she said.

The best thing you can do as a homeowner or gardener is to look to natural methods of pest control. As well as planting things such as bee-friendly native wildflowers.