[Greengage]

The recent posts on Insect Armageddon is that more fake news.

[Keeks]

what post is that?

[kindredspirit]

The insect population is collapsing at an increasing rate.

Someone, I know, drove from here to Poland last year and said that when they crossed the whole of Germany, not one insect splatted on their windscreen! That's frightening!

[Greengage]

like fishing I got a bite The reason for no insects on the trip to Poland was possibly car design. Also a motorway is not an ideal habitat for insects to breed along and there would possibly be a lack of food resources. Todays cars are more aerodynamic than older cars bulldozing all in front of them. Fortunately there is no evidence that the insect population is collapsing at an increasing rate there is a lot of sensational headline pieces in newspapers but that's all it is sensational news.

[kindredspirit]

When I was young, I used to go up the road to some wasteland and there used to be hundreds and hundreds of differently coloured grasshoppers. I used to cup them in my hands to look at them and then let them jump away. I haven't seen a grasshopper now for at least ten years. Not one!

I used to see Lacewings all over the place when I was young too. Haven't seen a Lacewing either for 10 years.

I live in the countryside where you expect insects to flourish. I'm afraid that I can see with my own eyes that they are getting fewer and fewer. Even house flies are vanishing. I believe the evidence of my own eyes.

[Greengage]

Re the hundreds and hundreds of different Grasshoppers I doubt it as we only have 5 species of Grasshoppers in Ireland. So thats that myth. but back to insect Armageddon. Studying Global Declines is extremely difficult to verify global insect declines. Limitations and knowledge gaps show up in the review by Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys. They used a limited, selective search for papers that was biased toward ones containing the word decline. Their search protocol would not have picked up the broader range of studies showing long-term fluctuations, population increases, or stability, because they didn’t include these terms.(Thats a quote from link below)
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/no-simple-answers-for-insect-conservation

The above blog is interesting reading I have access to the original paper and if you are interested in the subject I can post loads of links as to why it was wrongly reported, the media cannot miss a good doomsday story. We do'nt even know what insects we have in Ireland never mind the rest of the world. We don't understand their role in the environment how and why populations increase and decrease, You can say in your area if a habitat has been removed or management practices changed yes it will change both flora and fauna that use that ecosystem to breed, feed and survive but they may have moved on to a more suitable habitat or adapted to different strategy to survive. See what you think and if you would like to read more. Stay safe.

[kindredspirit]

NO myth, Greengage. I was born in England. And there were unbelievable numbers of grasshoppers. When I came to Ireland I saw some here at first but lately.......Zero!

[Greengage]

Another one to read.
https://ecologyisnotadirtyword.com/2019/02/16/insectageddon-is-a-great-story-but-what-are-the-facts/

[tagwex]

https://www.thejournal.ie/insects-declining-according-to-study-5082794-Apr2020/

This might add to your theory KS.

[Greengage]

The facts,
https://ecologyisnotadirtyword.com/2019/02/16/insectageddon-is-a-great-story-but-what-are-the-facts/