Crash

The “loss of three billion birds” in recent years has been cited as a major call for action on climate change and other environmental matters. To put that loss in perspective, it represents a crash in bird populations by 25 to 30% over the last half century. An alarming statistic, indeed. But it pales when compared with the decline in insect populations over the same period: more than half of insect biomass in open areas has been lost, and over 80% in some urban areas. I’d add a few letters to that word crash: catastrophe is far more apt! And who noticed?

While picnics still get ants and a deer fly (wasp, really) or two, and those dog droppings someone neglected to pick up have a cluster of shiny greenbottle flies (yes, those are flies) on them, the rest of the time insects go unseen, with the possible exception of mosquitoes and honey bees. There’s been a lot of talk about the latter’s loss. And, oh yes, monarch butterflies. We do know they are in decline. But, for the other myriad insects, the only notice might be a realization that one has driven all afternoon without having to clean the windshield of bug splat but once or twice, if at all.

While not well known to the general public, there are long-term studies that show the decline. The downward slope is shallow but distinct from the 70s into the 90s, then far steeper after 1995, the date at which neonicotinoids were incorporated into commercial insecticides. These have poisoned the general landscape far beyond the ag lands where they have been principally used. In my coastal area, the drought years of the last decade were accompanied by a virtual disappearance of many of the arthropods I had been interested in. I had hoped the rainy winters just before covid hit would produce a recovery. So far, no such luck. 

There are many reasons to support the habitat reserve networks EHL has had such an important role in creating. I suggest their potential for putting a cushion under crashing wildlife populations is at the top of the list. We do not fully understand the roles insects play in the world, and as with climate change, let’s not find out the hard way!