THE DISAPPEARING OF INSECTS

My insect book against a picture of a bird.

Last month I read in my newspaper about insects disappearing. I thought I saved the article, but couldn’t find it so the other day I went online and typed in disappearing insects and all sorts of columns came up on the subject. It seems it is a worldwide problem as well as a serious problem. I only copied two of the articles. One was “A Growing Crises: Insects are disappearing” by Nithin Coca. There is a website for him on the topic, but you can just click on the title that will show up and get all the information. I downloaded and read it and then I also downloaded another one.

I haven't seen one lady bug this summer.

The other one was titled “What’s Causing the Sharp Decline in Insects, and Why It Matters.” by Christian Schwagerl, July 6, 2016. This one takes place in Germany. This article starts with the following paragraph: Insect populations are declining dramatically in many parts of the world recent studies show. Researchers say various factors from mamonoculture farming to habitat loss, are to blame for the plight of insects, which are essential to agriculture and ecosystems.

I haven't seen a bumble bee since this spring.

I printed this one out, too, and read it. I knew some insects were useful in some ways like bees, etc. but as I read these articles I realized they were important to our ecosystem in many ways like propagating different plants and being food for so many animals, too. Think about it. Insects are prime fodder at the bottom of the food chain for many birds and other animals, too Fewer insects will lead to the decline of plant and animal populations.

There are so many ways we humans have caused this serious decline. It’s because of pesticides, and other things like the rivers and waterways that are polluted due to factory and agriculture run-off and the growing number of pollutants we’re putting in the air.

I forget what kind of butterfly this is.

Their decline is primarily due to changes in land use, intensive agricultural practices and pesticide use, alien invasive species, diseases and pests, and climate change,” said Sir Robert Watson, vice-chair of the intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, in a press statement (http://www.ipbes.net/article/press-release-pollinators-vital-our-food-supply-under-threat). This press statement may already have been deleted.

I don't know what kind of butterfly this is either.

There was so much information in just these two articles that I couldn’t begin to put it all in one blog. I recommend that you look at these and other columns on line by typing in the titles of the two I mentioned.

I don't know what this is.

As for me I realized that I haven’t been bothered by insects this summer. Yes, I got a few very tiny ants invading my house this spring, but I put Borax along the edges of my kitchen counter and they soon disappeared. Outside I can sit by my little goldfish pond near my house with no more than one or two occasional mosquitoes landing on me. And the last time I walked in my woods, I didn’t have a problem with more than a few mosquitoes. I haven’t seen any ladybugs this year and only a few butterflies. The bees that have homes in the wooden beams in the lean-to where I park my car seem to have disappeared, too, as well as the most annoying of insects, the deer flies that attack both me and my ponies. I only had one at the beginning of summer attack me and I haven’t seen the ponies swishing their tales to keep off horse flies or deer flies, either. In some ways that is pleasant, but I miss the butterflies and I know that birds and other small animals like toads, frogs and salamanders, etc. will be going hungry and we will lose them, too, if this problem isn’t reversed. As for me, I don’t use any insect spray and only occasionally use Roundup on a patch of poison ivy that appears at the edge of my yard.

Have you noticed the decline in insects?

What about butterflies?