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Doesn't it look like the initial reading was the anomaly? Like the 1989 number is twice as big compared to 1991. In 1991 they could have reported "insects numb
by mattmanser 9y ago
Doesn't it look like the initial reading was the anomaly? Like the 1989 number is twice as big compared to 1991.
In 1991 they could have reported "insects numbers drop 50% in two years!!!!".
I mean there's a definite decline, but it doesn't look like an imminent collapse.
- bitL 9y agoLast year when I left my kitchen window open at around this time, in a couple of hours I had dozens of flies everywhere. This year - silence. Way less birds as well. When I visit my parents that retired to a village valley without any industry, insects of all types are everywhere.
- notatoad 9y agoSame here. Except this year we still have snow on the ground and last year it had all melted a month ago, so that's probably why there's no insects. Anecdotes aren't helping anything.
- goatlover 9y agoThe insect splatter or lack thereof has been noticed by a lot of people in different countries though.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- notatoad 9y agoStill though, "being noticed" is not evidence of anything. Studies count, people noticing things don't.
- bitL 9y agoThere is a significant latency between an observation and scientific study, often in years.
- aeorgnoieang 9y agoOf course "being noticed" is evidence, if only a small amount.
- Arnt 9y agoThe decline is really noticeable. (I live in Germany.) You can go bicycling in the countryside in summer and never get any insects in your mouth. You can drive your car and not wipe off your windshield. If you look at the graph you can adda trend line for poor years and one for good. Both point steeply downwards, say -30%/decade. Extrapolate to human lifetimes, and you get a 96% drop in one human lifetime. Wow.
- drag0nballz 9y ago>> You can drive your car and not wipe off your windshield This. When I was a kid in California a quick trip in summer and it would be carnage on the window and grill. Now I can drive for hours and not get a single bug. Part of this could be increasing traffic. But it is really dramatic and scary.
- goatlover 9y agoThese are anecdotal, but I have the same experiences in North America of inspect splatter when I was younger versus the last decade, of which there is very little.
- hahamrfunnyguy 9y agoDifferent vehicles maybe? A day-long summer ride through the countryside on my motorcycle and my helmet, jacket and windscreen will be completely covered with bugs.
- exhilaration 9y agoHas anyone considered this idea? That modern computer-modeled and wind tunnel tested cars are just dramatically more aerodynamic than the insect-killing cars of our youth?
- ScottBurson 9y agoMy first car was a 1986 Honda CRX Si, which IIRC had a pretty low Cd of 0.31. I picked up plenty of bugs with it back then.
- singularity2001 9y agoAnecdata: growing up, all blossoming cherry trees here had hundreds or thousands of bees in them. now there are a dozen bumble bees. that is beyond 'imminent collapse' and beyond sad. Someone send all people at Monsanto who hid the evidence to jail.
- YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago>> Doesn't it look like the initial reading was the anomaly? Like the 1989 number is twice as big compared to 1991. There's variation between years but a clear downward trend that leads to a significant reduction overall. Intuitively, if that was money, someone would be pulling their hair out by the handful.
- Eupolemos 9y agoDane here: last year, all the insects at my mom's farm were gone. No cherries, very few apples - worst harvest we've ever experienced. The buzzing is simply gone and it is chilling. It is like being in a silent city; wrong.