Posted on 02/11/2019 1:52:51 AM PST by LibWhacker
The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review.
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.
The planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history, with huge losses already reported in larger animals that are easier to study. But insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times. They are “essential” for the proper functioning of all ecosystems, the researchers say, as food for other creatures, pollinators and recyclers of nutrients.
Insect population collapses have recently been reported in Germany and Puerto Rico, but the review strongly indicates the crisis is global. The researchers set out their conclusions in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper: “The [insect] trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting [on] life forms on our planet.
“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” they write. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Number 2 is total BS. Higher temperatures increases diversification of species.
There seems to be a large increase in lice, bedbugs and fleas in the US. That should make the Guardian editors a little happier.
If we’re going to kill off insects, can we start with the Fs? You know, fleas, flying ants, flies, etc. But NOT fireflies.
Who counted? Was that one of Obama's shovel ready jobs?
These are the folks that think insects should be our food supply.
Over by the DC beltway last week I saw boxelder bugs.
Since the heat wave ended they are probably back to hiding in crevices in rocks, or houses.
Someone needs to watch the old 1971 documentary movie -The Hellstrom Chronicle- about insects. As a film critic of the time said...”It makes you want to leave the theater and start stomping bugs!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067197/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hellstrom_Chronicle
I thought cockroaches could survive a nuclear bomb!
Insects breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Termites alone generate 10 times more CO2 than all fossil fuel sources combined. A 10% reduction in insects would put Al Gore out of business.
I’ve read most of the comments. The tone is atypical.
You all don’t get it, do you? It’s not just the bees. More studies need to be done. Pronto. The warning signs have been there for decades and others warned of this very effect.
Buy seeds; you’re gonna need ‘em.
If only that applied to la cucarachas. Hate those things.
I’m going to tell all of my free-range chickens that they have to go on a diet. That’s the least my hens can do to help save the planet. /snort
...I’ve read most of the comments. The tone is atypical.
I’d noticed the strange decrease in insects a while back
Before it bacame an Internet “Thing”
I’ve assumed it was because of the wide application of Neonicotinoids
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid
Are the same politico-scientists who said a few years back that we should all eat insects to “save the earth”? What morons. Always in search of grant money for their ridiculous anti-science. They should be beaten within an inch of their lives with their crappy dissertations and, then. exiled to Pitcairn Island.
Global warming is globalist psyops.
In less than 6 months, I predict that the insect population will have rebounded but that it will be 70, maybe even 80, degrees warmer there.
I am actually quite concerned about global warming in Minnesota. About a week ago it was 30 below here. Now it is 20 above. A swing of 50 degrees in a week. If this scientific trend continues then by Labor Day it will be one billion degrees above zero.
I live in the high desert. We often have days with 50 degree swings. 40 degree swings are very common often for days in a row.
That said I understand how that is something unusual in the upper Midwest. I grew up in Iowa.
Nothing unusual about it at all here. I didn’t do a /sheldon because it was obvious.
My dog’s fleas haven’t heard the news yet.
I have a surprise for them this afternoon...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.