fetzler Loc: North West PA

The following was posted in the True Macro Forum.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/aug/02/the-bottom-has-just-dropped-out-as-insect-populati/

My son is an Entomologist and I discussed this with him. He tells me that these reports are Fake News. Insect populations do vary with season (wet or dry) and sometimes species in a given area change over time. All this is natural. There is no global change in insect population.

harry-j

And I thought it was from the right wing...or maybe it's the west wing? Who cares...let's keep the politics out of the photography forum. Please.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Harry, relax and have a cup of tea or a good belt of whiskey.

Although the original posting was in the true macro forum, I posted my comment in General -Chit Chat.
The original poster placed his posting as there many insect photographers in the true macro-forum.

As for my comments, I was speaking of science not politics. My son is a Ph.D. Entomologist and spends quite a bit of time on tracking insect populations. I am confident he is more knowledgeable than you. Most reporters for the popular press are scientifically illiterate and much nonsense gets published there. The original poster just reported what he found in the press and found it interesting. It turns out that journalist is wrong.

Incidentally, I have published many papers in the scientific literature and my son has quite a few too.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I, too, have published in a science journal. I read that article and found it to be somewhat silly. Some insects are in decline and many others are on the rise as is normal. No need to be alarmed. Not eveyone has a science background so it's important to point out flaws in reporting.

tramsey Loc: Texas

If you think insects are on the decline just come on over to my house. We just had seventeen inches of rain the other day. Now the Rio Grand Valley looks a lot like Minnesota with it's ten thousand lakes and its quadrillion mosquitoes per foot and they are all females looking for your and my blood.

I know the sentence structure is terrible but take it as it is, sorry

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The subject, as written in "scholarly" journals - 2020 publications - is here.

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SonyBug

There were no bees this year so I had to hand pollinate my zucchini plant this year. Otherwise I would not have had any zucchini at all.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

As Fetzler said, insect populations vary over the years... I have found this to be true...

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Living in Florida, I disagree with him. I'm not a scientist, but I am a well trained observer.. When I first moved in here 40+ years ago the bugs were thicker than thieves. If you put a light on a brick in the middle of the back yard (I border woods) at sundown, by 10:00 PM the beetles and every other type or crawler/slithering/flying insects would be 3" deep at the base of the brick, down to about an inch deep 6-8 feet away from the brick, and the toads and frogs would have a field day. Put that same light in the same place now, at 10:00PM there might be a few flying bugs, literally nothing on the ground, no frogs, no toads. I have never used any type insecticide on my property (other than insect/termite treatment in/under and around my immediate house area), so several acres never were sprayed, again, over a 40 year span.

Other folks I know who live in this area (Florida Space Coast) say they have seen the same, and I trust their word as I've known them all my life. Mosquitos, hardly any, but then they (county) have sprayed the area for decades. So in short, we see it here....huge decline....and I still basically live in the woods, backyard borders 60 acreas of wood/wetlands, and that borders 10,000 acres of WMA. See a roach once in a while, but even they seem rare now. Ants, yes, but they simply overwhelm everything else. I also think the terminology "fake news" has become "fake news"..........in and of itself.
Just my observation, from and old couple living in the woods.

moomoo951

your first clue of fake should be in a car in a walmart parking lot bugs like flora not asfalt

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

This year our raspberry plants failed to produce any berries. I am guessing there were no pollinators.

andesbill

Bee populations are in decline, as are monarch butterfly populations. German scientists who have been measuring insect populations in the Black Forest, have been reporting declines in overall insect populations for years. I also remember reading that Costa Rican scientists have also been reporting declines in insect populations.
Bees are being overused for agriculture, so part of their decline may be due to stress. As we urbanize the planet, there will be further stress on insect populations, as their habitat declines. Use of pesticides and other chemicals such as estrogens will have an effect on various fauna and flora.
No matter how you look at it, in regards to the natural environment of our planet, we are behaving stupidly. I am certain that we will reap what we sow.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

I agree with you. I am the one who posted the article originally. The population of certain insects will increase or decrease from season to season but when I see an overall decrease year after year I can interpret it only one way.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Yes... I'm not making up stories either. My personal experience with what I describe and corroboration with others I know and trust tells a tale that worries me. 40 years ago you could not park a car for months outside, store boxes in the garage, etc. and not find a ton of roaches, centipedes, scorpions, you name it, when you opened said containers or vehicles (unless poison was involved). Now, I can look in old open boxes, tool boxes, cabinets, shelves in outbuildings, etc....and nary a bug to be found. We have bee keepers in the area, so I still see bees (they have a working deal with Mosquito Control so they don't get sprayed), and dragonflies (who eat what few mosquitos we have), some butterflies....but it is nothing like when I first came to live here.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I have a photo friend who lives here in the same county and she has tons of butterflies et al in her yard. That said, she plants lot of plants these insects (mainly butterflies) like. Around here, the country has cut down along the sides of the roads) many of the native flowers that these insects would come to. I used to see lots of honeybees but a neighbor two doors down had a beekeeper remove a large nest from one of his trees. Thus the dearth of insects can be attributed to numerous causes and may be more pronounced in some areas as opposed to others.