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One of the studies showing insect loss was done in Puerto Rico, where pesticide use has gone down in the last several decades, one of the few places in the worl

by moosey 8y ago

One of the studies showing insect loss was done in Puerto Rico, where pesticide use has gone down in the last several decades, one of the few places in the world with that pattern. The current primary hypothesis is that the increased in temperature cause issues with their internal chemistry, but there is disagreement. More about it here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/science/2018/10/15/hyperalarming-study-shows-massive-insect-loss/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/... We cannot use organic farming to feed the world population at it's current size. Food production has multiple requirements, and land use is the weakness of organic farming. The best way to reduce land use, climate altering gasses, pesticide use, and pollution, in agriculture is, hands down, eliminating meat from your diet. This is because about 70% of all agricultural land use in the US for to producing meat. By eliminating meat production it had been suggested that we can cut agricultural land use by 40-50%. This article is a good starting point for more information: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160926-what-would-happen-if-the-world-suddenly-went-vegetarian http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160926-what-would-happen-i... In order to help rebuild insect environments, I would recommend trying to expand The range of local plant life in your area, starting with your lawn if you have one.

rstuart4133 8y ago
I'd lay odds it will just be the usual cause - habitat loss. These insects evolved to inhabit in wild environment. Now we moved most of it over to monoculture. There is actually a good documented example. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/55/1/80/248302 https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/55/1/80/248302 Back when I was young locust plagues were a thing. They wiped out vast areas crop land. We they came near the cities the eat the washing on the line. I noticed they were dropping off. Now I haven't heard about a locust plague anywhere in at least a decade. Which was odd, because when they were happening we spent huge amounts of money trying to control them. Planes would fly through the things dispensing insecticide, but it wasn't terribly effective because the insect bodies with pile up inside the engines causing them to over heat. In fact nothing we did seem to have much effect. What wiped them out was changes in land use. Part of their life cycle was burring their eggs just below the surface on fertile grass land. Planting crops wasn't a killer issue for them - but ploughing was. Eventually we converted all those locust breeding grounds to crop land, and once we did that they were gone. They are gone forever now - extinct. If you read the article you can see we were triumphant over eliminating a major pest for a while. Now, not so much.

by moosey 8y ago

rstuart4133 8y ago

I'd lay odds it will just be the usual cause - habitat loss. These insects evolved to inhabit in wild environment. Now we moved most of it over to monoculture. There is actually a good documented example. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/55/1/80/248302 https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/55/1/80/248302 Back when I was young locust plagues were a thing. They wiped out vast areas crop land. We they came near the cities the eat the washing on the line. I noticed they were dropping off. Now I haven't heard about a locust plague anywhere in at least a decade. Which was odd, because when they were happening we spent huge amounts of money trying to control them. Planes would fly through the things dispensing insecticide, but it wasn't terribly effective because the insect bodies with pile up inside the engines causing them to over heat. In fact nothing we did seem to have much effect. What wiped them out was changes in land use. Part of their life cycle was burring their eggs just below the surface on fertile grass land. Planting crops wasn't a killer issue for them - but ploughing was. Eventually we converted all those locust breeding grounds to crop land, and once we did that they were gone. They are gone forever now - extinct. If you read the article you can see we were triumphant over eliminating a major pest for a while. Now, not so much.