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Page added on October 22, 2017
A 27-year study found the amount of insects flying in the air has declined 75%
- 75% of the flying insects on protected lands in Germany seem to have died over the past 27 years.
- Researchers aren’t sure what’s responsible for the decline, but say climate change probably isn’t to blame.
- Bird populations are now also on the decline.
Bug researchers in Germany are puzzled.
New data suggests the total population of flying insects there has declined a whopping 75% in the past 27 years. And no one knows why.
A study released Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE details a longitudinal study by German researchers to measure “flying insect biomass” — the weight of all flying bugs — in 63 protected spots around the country.
The scientists surveyed places like dunes, grasslands, and forests, using trapping tents to collect over 118 pounds of bugs over the 27 year period. They were expecting to find some population decreases, but this extreme decline, they said, is “alarming”.
The most recent Living Planet Index (which measures biodiversity and population trends in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals around the world) suggested that wildlife abundance on Earth decreased by as much as 58% between 1970 and 2012. Butterfly, bee, and moth populations have previously been shown to be in decline across Europe.
But this widespread insect death struck the researchers as extreme. At the peak of summer heat, when there are usually more bugs out than in the spring and fall, the drop was even more pronounced, and bug counts were down 82%, — that’s 7% more than the average decline over the 27-year period.
The lack of insects, of course, also problematic for small critters who eat flying bugs and has ripple effects up the food chain. A majority (roughly 80%) of plants rely on insects for pollination, and birds gobble them for sustenance. German birds are feeling the squeeze on their food supply — new research published Thursday shows that Germany lost 15% of its non-endangered bird population in the past 12 years.
The researchers aren’t sure what’s causing this precipitous fall. Across the diverse swath of German habitats studied, all spots saw similar declines, suggesting the decrease had nothing to do with landscape changes. And the scientists don’t think shifts in weather, land use, or climate change are valid explanations either. If anything, rising global temperatures should increase bug populations, the authors argue, because insect biomass is “positively related” to temperature, according to their models.
Other experts have pointed out, however, that not all bugs thrive on a warming Earth. The Washington Post reports that an especially warm spring could bring some bugs (like bees) out early, only to starve when there’s not enough food.
But the German researchers are zeroing in on one possible explanation for their findings: “Pesticide usage, year-round tillage, increased use of fertilizers and frequency of agronomic measures… may form a plausible cause,” they wrote.
More research is needed to know the role the agricultural industry is playing, but the German Farmer’s Union is already playing defense. The association’s secretary general, Bernhard Krüsken, told Deutsche Welle that “considering that the insect count was done exclusively in protected habitats, this shows that it would be premature to quickly point at agriculture.”
Regardless of the cause, scientists worldwide have been sounding the alarm about declining insect populations for months.
“If you’re an insect-eating bird living in that area, four-fifths of your food is gone in the last quarter-century, which is staggering,” Dave Goulson, an ecologist at the University of Sussex, told Science Magazine earlier this year. “One almost hopes” the German trend is unique, he said, and not reverberating around the globe.
58 Comments on "A 27-year study found the amount of insects flying in the air has declined 75%"
Anonymous on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 12:49 pm
I have a hard time believing climate change as the cause because the change is very gradual and there are insects in every climate. I would think pesticides and urbanization, etc. might be more likely causes. Maybe it is psychological since I am taller and spend more time indoors now, but I sure remember more critters as a boy than what I see now.
Shortend on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 12:54 pm
Only a degree or two change in pattern can upset the life cycle of an insect. Especially in regarding to breeding.
Anonymous on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 1:09 pm
Short, the season to season difference (from just random hot and cold winters/summers) is more than the trend’s year to year. That doesn’t mean the trend does not exist. It just means that insects can deal with a bad year.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 1:17 pm
Its all of the above type reason animals and insects are being wiped out. Focusing only on one reason usually fits an agenda. Like take the fake greens. Fake greens are all over climate change being the reason but then decline to attribute general affluence driven consumption and development as also significantly part of this destruction. You know, becuase that means they are part of the problem instead of only Trump.
farmlad on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 1:37 pm
My favorite entomologist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zsNeeBNU_s
Dr lundgren and his research team is funded by grassroots donations from bee keepers and other concerned people.
Apneaman on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 2:14 pm
Anonymous, “I have a hard time believing” “I would think”. So? You just talked yourself into believing what you want. I look at the evidence since it’s the best tool we have. Besides, no one said AGW was the sole cause and if you go around implying that some authority said so then you are straw manning.
What the fuck is the deal? I have spent untold hours on this site explaining in the simplest terms possible what AGW is and what it portends.
Yet so few get it.
At AGW, we don’t make things, we make things worse.
AGW is part of the insect decline same as the other species. It’s not the #1 factor. Not yet, but it’s gaining and will overtake all other causes of species decline and extinction in the near future.
Boat on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 3:29 pm
ape,
” I have spent untold hours on this site explaining in the simplest terms possible what AGW is and what it portends.
Yet so few get it.”
Show us your timeline with the milestone markers along the way.
A general we’re gonna die and here’s the 50 thousand reasons why doesn’t cut it.
Go Speed Racer on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 4:14 pm
In the big race, the bad guys try to throw
a bee’s nest into the Mach 5.
That’s why i always hated bugs.
This is great news. If we spray enough
poison all over everywhere, it should kill
off the last of the bugs.
We could reformulate the fuel for the
jumbo jets. We’ll put in 10% DDT. It
will come out the back of the engines
and cover the whole world with bug killer.
DerHundistlos on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 6:12 pm
@ Davy
Serious question I have previously posed. Who are the “fake greens” that, “decline to attribute general affluence driven consumption and development as also significantly part of this destruction?”
I don’t know to whom you are referring, but I would like to know the individuals and groups espousing this belief system.
makati1 on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 6:41 pm
Insects can migrate to accommodate climate changes. The killers are the pesticides as Anon states, not weather.
I too noticed that there are fewer insects than when I was young. Many is the time that they splattered on the windshield of my car so bad that I had to use the wipers and water to see. That has not happened in the last 20 years. Now a splat is unusual.
The signs of extinction are all around but we ignore them.
fmr-paultard on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 7:16 pm
Not too worry the insects are retrofitting for eurotard electric renewable flight infrastructure. Just watch like cicadas they come back after a period of hibernation
DerHundistlos on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 7:20 pm
@ Anonymous
Urbanization is not an issue in Germany due to prior central planning. Further, Germany ranks second in the world for land preservation. An amazing 48% of Germany’s land area is protected. Germany has 16 national parks, 742 Special Protection Areas, and an assortment of nature reserves, landscape protection areas, and Sites of Community Importance, as well as other types of protected areas. And unlike the United States, these parks and reserves are sacrosanct- can’t be opened for mining, oil, uranium, etc.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 7:43 pm
“I don’t know to whom you are referring, but I would like to know the individuals and groups espousing this belief system.”
You and I der hund. I admit to it but somehow I think you think you are above being called fake green. Anyone on this comment board who claims to be green is. I want to be greener and I am trying.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 7:47 pm
“An amazing 48% of Germany’s land area is protected.”
Please der hund, spare me the exaggerations. The population densities of German say otherwise. There is industrial agriculture everywhere. Elaborate before you talk out your ass. I lived there for a year in 85-86. There was no such protection in the true sense of the word. OH, I get it, you mean fake green protection.
Apneaman on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:02 pm
Boat, what’s the dollar count down there in Disaster-Cancer Land Houston? I told you there was a strong possibility that an AGW Jacked hurricane (warmer ocean = more energy) could hit, and it happened. I have also repeatedly told you that due to the AGW Jacked hydrological cycle (5-7% more moisture in the atmosphere) Rain Bombs will keep falling on your head and they have. Record breaking Rain Bombs & record breaking hail in Texas also. Short lived records because they keep getting broken. And it’s going to keep coming and coming and coming – bigger and badder. It will break you.
Boat, here’s another prediction and it’s actually at least 5 years old. When Cheeto’s Cancer crew get finished gutting the EPA, America will start to look like Asia regarding the pollution. It’ s a total farce. They think or are telling the retarded populous that this will create jobs and make America great for once. It won’t. It will help a few share holders and fuck up more peoples water which is already the laughing stock of the so called developed world.
Pollution kills 9 million people each year, new study finds
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/10/19/pollution-kills-9-million-people-each-year-new-study-finds/
The gutting of enviro regs will happen in every country as they get desperate and try anything, no matter how foolhardy, to kick the can for another minute or two. Cancer monkeys who no nothing but growth. It’s insanity and shows how unimpressive humans are. A one way street. Where is all this capitalist innovation that y’all capitalist fanboys said would save the humans? I thought y’all fanboys and your overlords said the free market solves all. It hasn’t happened. By every aggregate metric the biosphere gets worse every damn year and the masters of the universe and the sheeple are together willfully ignorant and in denial and it won’t work. It’s the worst possible option and its why the humans are dead apes walking.
makati1 on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:02 pm
Thirty one years is a long time to claim you know what is happening there, Davy. Too long. How has the US changed in that time? Drastically!
Apneaman on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:10 pm
Boat, here is what you get as the humans face the biggest threat to their existence in their short history. The shit is coming, Can’t be stopped. It’s in the pipe. Inertia. This is fact and what’s the response from your fearless leader and his cancer crew?
Trump administration deletes mention of ‘climate change’ from Environmental Protection Agency’s website
Changes began appearing shortly after presidential innauguration
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-administration-climate-change-deleted-environmental-protection-agency-website-a8012581.html
lmao. Many are angry over this. I think it’s hilarious. Perfect actually.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:13 pm
“Thirty one years is a long time to claim you know what is happening there, Davy. Too long. How has the US changed in that time? Drastically!”
Used your head and maybe you can figure it out mad kat…or maybe not, you are not that bright.
makati1 on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:18 pm
Figure out what, Davy? Your delusions or…? My comment is easy to understand. Things change in 30+ years. Ask any sane person how their life has changed since 1986.
Has the ME changed?
Has the EU changed? Has China Changed?
How about the Ps or any other country in the last 30+ years?
The US certainly has and drastically in the wrong direction.
Davy on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 8:38 pm
Mad katter, go back to the comment before you really look stupid. Germany has high population densities, is an industrialized nation, and has a serious industrial agriculture sector. How would such a nation protect 48 percent of its land area. I knew you were Intellectually challenged but not this bad.
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:04 pm
madkat1 why are you ignoring the four peer reviewed studies I showed you that conclude collapse of GLOBAL civilization within the next decade? And why are you making up conspiracy theories about the studies, saying ‘they spin them’. Without showing any evidence of any spin? It seams you can’ handle reality. And denial and insanity are brothers remember (your words, not mine).
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:06 pm
Once the global economy collapses. Madkat1 will end up in an ISIS cannibals pot. And goons will breed your grand daughters…They will have more kids then Stanford’s freshmen class…
DMyers on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:35 pm
I’ve observed drastic reductions in both insect and amphibian presence personally in a certain locale. My conclusion was that this was an effect of human encroachment, specifics very elusive.
I’ve noticed the windshield bug-splatter decline myself. This could be a decline of one particular species especially prone to highway hovering and not represent a general trend. Splatter stop is a complicated thing. Maybe the highway insects joined the pond and and river insects to escape the windshield batterer.
I’ve always presumed insects and bugs in general would inherit the Earth. And in spite of this minor setback in apparent insect density, I still believe they will prevail in the final analysis.
DerHundistlos on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:46 pm
@ Davy
Here are the FACTS regarding Germany’s protected areas. Sorry they do not conform to your beliefs:
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-highest-percentage-of-protected-reserve-lands.html
farmlad on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:48 pm
One reason for the loss in insects on protected areas is for the very fact they are protected from herds of large herbivores such as bison, aurocks, mastodons, horses, giant beavers, boars etc and their predators which have historically performed the ecosystem functions of grazing, foraging, fertilizing, and trampling debris down into the soil. These ecosystem functions are vital to regenerating plants and encoraging plant species diversification which in turn feeds a greater diversity of insect diversity which supports an increased mass of insects. The only viable tool we have left to regain these ecosystem functions is to use domesticated livestock like cows pigs and goats etc.
LetStupidPeopleDie on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:51 pm
We are going into a new ice age. The sun is changing configuration and is emmitting more UVC rays. UVC rays damage DNA and therefore is killing everything on earth including all forms of life.
Global warming is not the problem, the sun is the problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3cF7jMs0qg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7IJYFEilHU
Good is erasing life on earth. He needs a clean earth to start at new again.
DerHundistlos on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 9:56 pm
See, Davy, responds in a dumb rage based on his one year living in Germany and pre-conceived notions. Did he even bother to research the evidence? Of course not. He just bumps his gums like a good fake green.
I agree you are a fake green. I, on the other hand, have devoted my financial assets not to protect me and my family, but to buy and preserve for the benefit of all, many thousands of hectares of cloud and lowland rainforest. I live in a house comprising less than 2.000 sq. ft. and I drive a 1992 station wagon less than 3.000 miles a year. Yep, I’m living and acting like a fake green. Still waiting for other fake green names.
makati1 on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 10:09 pm
Doesn’t this prove Davy’s mental problems?
“Mad katter, go back to the comment before you really look stupid. Germany has high population densities, is an industrialized nation, and has a serious industrial agriculture sector. How would such a nation protect 48 percent of its land area. I knew you were Intellectually challenged but not this bad.”
I never mentioned anything about Germany. I mentioned that insects migrate and that 30+ years is a long time and things change. Where did I mention Germany? Too much moonshine Davy? Forgot to take your meds? LMAO
DerHundistlos on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 10:14 pm
@ mak
Yep, he throws a tantrum anytime someone challenges his omnipotence. He’s at war with half of the posters.
dave thompson on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 11:18 pm
So the base of the food chain is being destroyed what could possibly go wrong? Humans are at the top of the food chain, no problem.
Boat on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 11:36 pm
Der hund,
Germany is about 138,000 sq miles. 80 million in population.
Montana comes at 147,000 sq miles with 1 million in population. Next is New Mexico at 121,000 sq miles. Population 2 million.
California is our most populated state with 1/2 the population and 163,000 sq miles.
Designated green space or not Germany is a cesspool of overpopulation and pollution.
Germany is not green.
Stephen on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 11:50 pm
I wonder if it is a combination of GMOs, climate change, pollution, habitat destruction, and other things.
dave thompson on Sun, 22nd Oct 2017 11:55 pm
Stephen, I would say yes to all of your observations. And again just add (sarcastically);So the base of the food chain is being destroyed what could possibly go wrong? Humans are at the top of the food chain, no problem.
Boat on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 12:51 am
Virginia Seeks First Wind Farm in Region With Slowest Breezes
“Manufacturers clustered around the Southeast where GE makes a lot of turbines,” Hensley said in an interview Thursday. “Now the machines are bigger and smarter, and you’re seeing the market open up to a low-wind region
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-20/virginia-seeks-first-wind-farm-in-region-with-slowest-breezes
Boat on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 12:54 am
Tesla’s Powerpacks Will Help Power the World’s First Solar and Wind Energy Storage Project
“Kennedy will consist of 43.2MW Wind, 15MW AC, single axis tracking Solar and 4MWh of Li Ion battery storage. The project will use twelve Vestas V136, 3.6MW turbines at a hub height of 132 meters; the largest wind turbines yet to be deployed in Australia. The Li-Ion storage will be provided by Tesla,” according to the press announcement from Windlabs.
https://futurism.com/teslas-powerpacks-will-help-power-the-worlds-first-solar-and-wind-energy-storage-project/
dave thompson on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 1:00 am
Yea right Boat all that electricity will come in handy when the food chain is done collapsing and there is no more food.
makati1 on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 1:48 am
dave, some people can only consider BAU. Anything that might end that scenario scares them shitless. That they might soon join the 3rd world billions is a terrible nightmare for them. Personally, I expect it soon. There are so many shaky cards in that tall house that they will surely fall quickly when the first one goes. We have already pushed over the first domino in the chain reaction leading to our extinction. Nothing we can do now to stop either event. Only time to prepare and hope to ease the pain.
The only question is: How soon? Next year? Two years? For the collapse, I doubt it will go much longer. For extinction, maybe by the end of this century, if we are lucky. Or by 2050 if we are not. Exciting times.
Boat on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 3:25 am
dave,
Calm down, we can feed you. Be a man and grow some balls.
12 crops that worldwide furnish nearly 90 percent of the world’s food — rice, wheat, maize (corn), sorghums, millets, rye, and barley, and potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassavas or maniocs, bananas and coconuts — are wind pollinated, self-pollinated or are propagated asexually
Boat on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 3:25 am
What veggies do not need pollinators to produce:
• All leafy greens
• Brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kohlrabi
• Below ground root veggies and tubers such as carrots, parsnips, salsify, potatoes, sweet potatoes, horseradish
• Ground level root veggies such as beets, turnips, rutabagas
• Most legumes including peas and beans
• Corn—like other wind pollinated veggies, giving them a little shake helps distribute the pollen.
• Herbs, like the lemon balm pictured
• Celery
• Onions and leeks
makati1 on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 3:37 am
And what veggies don’t need the millions of small critters that inhabit every cubic yard of soil? Answer: They need ALL of them and the correct minerals to make veggies that are more than fiber. Not to mention fruits, grains, nuts, etc. When the small critters go, so goes the food chain.
‘The real deal is that without soil microbes, we would all die.”
https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1936/
makati1 on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 3:44 am
Boat, maybe you need to take a look at this?
“List of crop plants pollinated by bees”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees
DerHundistlos on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 4:39 am
@ Boat
Dumb and dumber. Maybe you would be happy subsisting on a diet of tasteless gruel. Your list, numbnuts, fails to include fruits and nuts and most vegetables. Further, clown, in order to grow our crops we require a healthy ecosystem. Instead, you focus on feeding “us” without any appreciation or undertsanding the importance of pollinators.
Dylan on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 6:58 am
@Apneaman scientists are having increasing trouble deciding exactly what AGW is. No one seems to know what it means. How would you know? BTW, it has been on pause since 1998 or so, so… what?
Shortend on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 7:17 am
Dylan, please don’t stir the pot…there has been no pause….No Pause in Global Warming
Scientists, not politicians, resolve a set of controversial measurements
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-pause-in-ocean-warming/
Actually, the Scientific community is sell aware of the knowing, basic Physics and Chemistry, observation, data, research and other means, such as, the Earth’s past records and forecasting.
So, please, don’t be a troll.
Davy on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 7:48 am
No one seems to know what it means. How would you know? BTW, it has been on pause since 1998 or so, so… what?
Denier BS, climate change is real. I am living it and seeing it daily in the global news. You can discount, dismiss, and debate the causes but you cannot deny it is happening. Does it matter in the end if it is natural, human, or a combination? Please don’t tell me it might be temporary or on hold. LOL. In the end a less stable climate will maybe (likely) end modern civilization eventually. Who knows when that will be but at least in the short term there is a lot we could do but likely will not. I would also tell the fake greens who think they can have their cake and eat it by continuing the status quo in a renewable part II that they are delusional. I would say we have more issues than energy to deal with. We have more issues than climate. We ourselves are the systematic problem with population, consumption, and cooperation. We may be able to extend our destructive ways with renewables for a time but there is likely no long term future for a species like ours. Linear humans will eventually be made cyclical again by nature. Planetary ecosystems are cyclical. It is unclear if the process means extinction but it might.
fmr-paultard on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 8:49 am
boat is supertard and immune to criticism. he’s correct that plants only needs water and nutrients and NO stinking insects.
Some need pollinators but not all.
fmr-paultard on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 8:53 am
excuseme but eurotard is a frozen wasteland overpopulated. what was true of the vikings will be true post peak oil. vikings raid ireland due to population resource pressure
Sissyfuss on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 10:35 am
Insects are one of the many dominoes beginning to fall as Nature feverishly strives to restore balance to a system in outrageous human overshoot. Collapse and dieoff are guaranteed. The Halloween tradition will evolve into starving children going door to door begging for food scraps to keep them alive one more dreadful day. Now that’s scary!
Cloggie on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 11:35 am
excuseme but eurotard is a frozen wasteland overpopulated. what was true of the vikings will be true post peak oil. vikings raid ireland due to population resource pressure
Average Swede/”Viking” today:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/17/article-0-05FA3B7B000005DC-680_468x286.jpg
Raiding not so much. Instead their matriarchy is being raided as we speak.
J. H. Wyoming on Mon, 23rd Oct 2017 4:14 pm
“Insects can migrate to accommodate climate changes. The killers are the pesticides as Anon states, not weather.”
Exactly, Mak. Big corporations that make insecticide have more power than any of the lifeforms they kill directly or indirectly, so nothing is in the system to help protect those species, thus they will go extinct and quite quickly as the timeline of 27 years is only a flash in the pan of time passage to lose 75% of flying insects.
It’s official; people are well on the way to eradicating most other species. How that may bounce back on to us I don’t really care, because once the world is devoid of most other life it will be such a sad day, it won’t really matter what happens after that.