The Deathly Insect Dilemma.

[Fletch]

The Deathly Insect Dilemma. “It is not Normal for 50%-to-90% of a Species to Drop Dead”

Insect abundance is plummeting with wild abandon, worldwide! Species evolve and go extinct as part of nature’s normal course over thousands and millions of years, but the current rate of devastation is off the charts and downright scary.

Moreover, there is no quick and easy explanation for this sudden emergence of massive loss around the globe. Yet, something is dreadfully horribly wrong. Beyond doubt, it is not normal for 50%-to-90% of a species to drop dead, but that is happening right now from Germany to Australia to Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest.

Scientists are rattled. The world is largely unaware of the implications because it is all so new. It goes without saying that the risk of loss of insects spells loss of ecosystems necessary for very important stuff, like food production.

Farmland birds that depend upon a diet of insects in Europe have disappeared by >50% in just three decades. French farmland partridge flocks have crashed by 80%. Nightingale abundance is down by almost 80%. Turtledoves are down nearly 80%.

In Denmark (1) owls, (2) Eurasian hobbies, and (3) Bee-eaters, which subsist on large insects like beetles and dragonflies, have abruptly disappeared. Poof, gone!

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-death ... ad/5662215

[Fletch]

‘Decimated’: Germany’s Birds Disappear as Insect Abundance Plummets 76%

Originally published by Mongabay.com and Global Research on November 2, 2017

A new study in PLOS ONE reveals a 76 percent reduction in Germany’s flying insect biomass over the past 27 years while another reports the country’s bird abundance has declined 15 percent in just over a decade.

While the causes behind the insect decline haven’t yet been conclusively studied, the PLOS ONE study suggests agricultural intensification like increased pesticide use may be contributing to the decline.

Neonicotinoid pesticides have been blamed for bee declines, and studies also link them to declines in aquatic insect communities. Many flying insects have aquatic life stages.

More research is underway to better understand the causes and ramifications of such a big decline in flying insect biomass.

Germany’s flying insect biomass has dropped 76 percent in the past 27 years, according to a study published last week in PLOS ONE. The findings have stunned biologists around the world and are prompting concern about potentially disastrous ecological consequences as another study finds the country lost 15 percent of its birds in just over a decade.

The study was conducted by researchers at institutions in Germany and the Netherlands. Over the course of nearly 30 years, they collected flying insects within protected areas in lowland western Germany by trapping them with mesh tents that funneled into bottles of alcohol. They then measured the biomass – basically, the combined weight – of the insects to see how it changed from year to year.

In total, the researchers collected 53.54 kilograms of flying insect biomass from 1989 to 2016. This may not sound like much, but the researchers say it represents millions of individual insects.

The results revealed a dramatic decline in flying insects. In total, their biomass dropped 76 percent over the 27-year sampling period; collections from midsummer showed an even bigger reduction –- 82 percent.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/decimated ... 76/5616314

[Rolluplostinspace]

It's weird because where I live must be an incredibly healthy environment.
There's one field about a mile from me where buzzards congregate.
There will be as many as half a dozen just standing still in the same field seemingly sun bathing.
Foxes badgers mice polecats rabbits fish owls butterflies moths Cormorants bats the place is teeming with life.
But globally something has to be in the atmosphere .... in the air and I suspect all this wireless activity may well be to blame or a major part of the problem.
Everything we do seems to pollute and upset the balance of things and radio and microwave transmissions are invisible but there.
There's also Monsanto.

[Fletch]

Why such a big decline?

As insect populations drop off around the world, the lingering question remains “why?” Evidence suggests that there may be myriad causes: Pesticides used on crops around the world have been linked to the disappearance of bees; global warming seems to be endangering the UK’s garden tiger moth; destruction of prairies for farmland in the U.S. heartland has catapulted tiny skipper butterflies towards extinction.

The PLOS ONE study looked a couple possible drivers to see how much of an impact they could be having on flying insects in Germany: climate change and habitat change. It found that while these two influences are likely affecting the country’s insects, they probably couldn’t be causing such a big decline all by themselves.

While they didn’t analyze it as part of their study, the researchers speculate that “agricultural intensification,” such as increased fertilizer and pesticide usage, could be contributing to the decline. They explain that despite being officially protected, all the areas where they collected insects were surrounded by cropland. They say these protected areas could be serving as “sinks or even as ecological traps” where agricultural runoff could be pooling and poisoning ecosystems.

Scientists have long linked pesticide use to insect decline – a reasonable assumption since that’s their very purpose. But research indicates that pesticides are killing more than target insects. For instance, a 2008 study in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology demonstrated low but persistent levels of a common neonicotinoid pesticide in aquatic ecosystems can kill off or reduce the growth of water-dwelling invertebrates. A PLOS ONE study published in 2013 showed the presence of neonicotinoids in Dutch water bodies correlated to big drops in aquatic insect abundance.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/decimated ... 76/5616314

Too late to change things?

GMO crops, pesticides, loss of natural habitat, rain forest destruction all for the profits of the big corps. Meanwhile, mountains of food is simply thrown away whilst poorer parts of the world starve.

[Fletch]

It's weird because where I live must be an incredibly healthy environment.
There's one field about a mile from me where buzzards congregate.
There will be as many as half a dozen just standing still in the same field seemingly sun bathing.
Foxes badgers mice polecats rabbits fish owls butterflies moths Cormorants bats the place is teeming with life.
But globally something has to be in the atmosphere .... in the air and I suspect all this wireless activity may well be to blame or a major part of the problem.
Everything we do seems to pollute and upset the balance of things and radio and microwave transmissions are invisible but there.
There's also Monsanto.

Good point, hadn't considered the radio and microwave impact on wildlife. Wales is fairly rural bar a few big cities, rural in the true sense of the word, not just a couple of miles from town. Scotland I assume is the same. It's in places where intense agriculture is that seem to be a problem.

[Guest]

Science will overcome all this, there is no need to panic.

Man caused this with overuse of fertilisers pesticides and habitat destruction, it is no mystery.

Time to pay the piper and rectify matters.

[Guest]

It's weird because where I live must be an incredibly healthy environment.
There's one field about a mile from me where buzzards congregate.
There will be as many as half a dozen just standing still in the same field seemingly sun bathing.
Foxes badgers mice polecats rabbits fish owls butterflies moths Cormorants bats the place is teeming with life.
But globally something has to be in the atmosphere .... in the air and I suspect all this wireless activity may well be to blame or a major part of the problem.
Everything we do seems to pollute and upset the balance of things and radio and microwave transmissions are invisible but there.
There's also Monsanto.

Good point, hadn't considered the radio and microwave impact on wildlife. Wales is fairly rural bar a few big cities, rural in the true sense of the word, not just a couple of miles from town. Scotland I assume is the same. It's in places where intense agriculture is that seem to be a problem.

Bang goes the radio wave and micro wave theory

[Maddog]

No shortage of flying, buzzing, stinging things around here. They must thrive in regions where fracking is common.

[Fletch]

Within Hours of Taking Office, “Trump of the Tropics” Starts Assault on the Amazon

Bolsonaro’s policies could triple deforestation in the Amazon. If this happens, the so-called lungs of the world, will collapse.

Within hours of taking office, the Trump of the Tropics, aka the new President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, launched an all-out assault against the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous communities yesterday, potentially paving the way for large scale deforestion by agricultural, mining and oil companies.

Startling many commentators by the speed of his action after his inauguration, Bolsonaro signed an executive order or decree, which immediately shifted responsibility for indigenous land demarcation from FUNAI, the Brazilian government’s Indigenous Affairs office, to the pro-agribusiness Ministry of Agriculture.

More worryingly, it could eventually pave the way for the dismantling of the indigenous reserve system, which would allow mining and oil interests to move in unchallenged.

Indigenous communities were rightly outraged at the move.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/within-ho ... on/5664778

[Cannydc]

Why such a big decline?

As insect populations drop off around the world, the lingering question remains “why?” Evidence suggests that there may be myriad causes: Pesticides used on crops around the world have been linked to the disappearance of bees; global warming seems to be endangering the UK’s garden tiger moth; destruction of prairies for farmland in the U.S. heartland has catapulted tiny skipper butterflies towards extinction.

The PLOS ONE study looked a couple possible drivers to see how much of an impact they could be having on flying insects in Germany: climate change and habitat change. It found that while these two influences are likely affecting the country’s insects, they probably couldn’t be causing such a big decline all by themselves.

While they didn’t analyze it as part of their study, the researchers speculate that “agricultural intensification,” such as increased fertilizer and pesticide usage, could be contributing to the decline. They explain that despite being officially protected, all the areas where they collected insects were surrounded by cropland. They say these protected areas could be serving as “sinks or even as ecological traps” where agricultural runoff could be pooling and poisoning ecosystems.

Scientists have long linked pesticide use to insect decline – a reasonable assumption since that’s their very purpose. But research indicates that pesticides are killing more than target insects. For instance, a 2008 study in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology demonstrated low but persistent levels of a common neonicotinoid pesticide in aquatic ecosystems can kill off or reduce the growth of water-dwelling invertebrates. A PLOS ONE study published in 2013 showed the presence of neonicotinoids in Dutch water bodies correlated to big drops in aquatic insect abundance.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/decimated ... 76/5616314

Too late to change things?

GMO crops, pesticides, loss of natural habitat, rain forest destruction all for the profits of the big corps. Meanwhile, mountains of food is simply thrown away whilst poorer parts of the world starve.

From your link... "Neonicotinoid pesticides have been blamed for bee declines, and studies also link them to declines in aquatic insect communities. Many flying insects have aquatic life stages."

Neonicotinoids was already under partial ban in the EU, and the ban was extended last year. But farmers will still (rightly) want to protect their crops, so will revert to older, less efficient methods and chemicals. The whole drive is twofold - obviously they need to make a profit at years end - but the main issue is demands from supermarkets for cheaper and cheaper food.

[Cannydc]

Link to above...

https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/crop-manag ... door-crops

[Fletch]

India’s State of Sikkim Banishes All Pesticides and GMO, Watches Both Wildlife and Tourism Flourish

The organic movement has been seen as a fad and a trend by many, but others call it a necessity in a changing world where toxic chemicals are increasingly killing life from the bottom of the food chain up, including people as the story of terminally ill groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson demonstrated.

Organic agriculture is still a ways off from becoming truly mainstream in the United States, especially with companies like Bayer (now the owner of Monsanto) renewing their push for more pesticides and new technology-intensive methods of farming.

But even as the U.S. continues to approve new “longer-lasting” GMOs, harsh, toxic pesticides and other unnatural “innovations,” other parts of the world are anteing up on organic farming like never before.

While these changes have been far from simple, places like the Himalayan state of Sikkim in India are making immense progress, helping to support the health of pollinators, human beings, and the environment in the process.

Indian state first go 100% organic

In January 2016, the state of Sikkim, in the shadow of the world’s third-tallest peak Mt. Kanchenjunga, succeeded in becoming the first fully organic state in India, and probably the world. A few short years later, there are still plenty of kinks to be worked out, but the benefits are being seen first hand.

Bee populations are said to be rebounding, with plants dependent on bee pollination like cardamom providing much higher yields. Cardamom for example has risen by more than 30% since 2014, a report from The Washington Post said.

Tourism to the region has also increased nearly 70% since the state went organic according to the BBC (see video below), and soil health has rebounded tremendously, as is usually the case when organic methods are applied. Marketed as an eco-friendly dream destination, the region boasts 500 species of butterflies, 4,500 types of flowering plants, and rare wildlife like the red panda, Himalayan bear, snow leopards and yaks.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/indias-st ... sh/5670717

Good to see some parts of India are fighting the agri-corps and thriving. Many Indian farmers have been destroyed with the GMO cotton they were forced to use by Monsanto/US. Sterile plants meant they had to buy new seed each year from them and contracts meant no way out. Production was far from what was claimed too leaving them with high costs and little return.

Organic needs more public support worldwide and calls to end the factory farming methods employed, both in livestock and arable.

[art0hur0moh]

Science will overcome all this, there is no need to panic.

Man caused this with overuse of fertilisers pesticides and habitat destruction, it is no mystery.

Time to pay the piper and rectify matters.

always wanted a victorian garden to tend.

I have elaborate ideas both large and small scale that mitigate the consequential destruction of Living in and harnessing (bring forth and multiply, plant seed from foods sources far away. another issue with trade dependency) the environment.

[Rolluplostinspace]

Science will overcome all this, there is no need to panic.

Man caused this with overuse of fertilisers pesticides and habitat destruction, it is no mystery.

Time to pay the piper and rectify matters.

Science caused it.
In the seventies I used to get a magazine that had a section called réalité fantastique who's message was every single thing man invents comes back to bite him on the arse ... medicine internal combustion engine everything.
People would write in saying what about such and such and they would tell how it had or would at some future point turn out to be bad.
Can't find bugger all on the net about it.

[Fletch]

Science will overcome all this, there is no need to panic.

Man caused this with overuse of fertilisers pesticides and habitat destruction, it is no mystery.

Time to pay the piper and rectify matters.

Science caused it.
In the seventies I used to get a magazine that had a section called réalité fantastique who's message was every single thing man invents comes back to bite him on the arse ... medicine internal combustion engine everything.
People would write in saying what about such and such and they would tell how it had or would at some future point turn out to be bad.
Can't find bugger all on the net about it.

“Frankenfoods”: US FDA Lifts Ban on GMO “Frankensalmon”

The FDA, in approving the AquaBounty GMO salmon, argued that the GMO farmed salmon is just as nutritious as eating non-GMO farmed salmon. The problem is that that is not a healthy benchmark, as modern salmon farms, typically with half a million fish at a time, use significant chemicals and antibiotics in production. Studies have found that for example a type of cancer-causing pesticide, polychlorinated biphenyls, exists in farm-raised salmon at 16 times the rate of wild salmon.

Another issue with the GMO farmed salmon is that aquaBounty acknowledges they will be fed soymeal, which in the USA almost guarantees it is GMO soymeal. And according to Jaydee Hanson, the Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Food Safety, the GMO salmon have fewer desirable Omega-3s. Key he says, is the ratio of desirable Omega-3 to undesirable inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acids. He states, “The ratio of 3s to 6s in this AquaBounty fish is the worst of any farm fish, and this is in AquaBounty’s own data.”

Astonishingly, despite a failed allergy-reaction test by AquaBounty the FDA did not apparently require them to make a serious retest. As well the GMO salmon requires abnormally high levels of growth hormones. Such hormones in beef have been shown to create a hormone called IGF that leads to higher levels of cancer. This apparently was not considered by FDA officials to be a serious problem.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-fda-li ... on/5672412