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There was an article a few months ago using measurements of impacts to license plates and it found a real drop of 60% in insect populations. The license plate i

There was an article a few months ago using measurements of impacts to license plates and it found a real drop of 60% in insect populations. The license plate is place to measure as it is not really affected by the airflow changes that some people suggest are the reason we see fewer impact. Here is a news story: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2022/05/10/in-the-uk-thousands-of-drivers-have-confirmed-the-collapse-of-the-insect-population_5982945_114.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2022/05/10/in-... With so many insects missing, that is likely to have impacts on other animals and plants that would eventually impact humans. These creatures are food for other animals and pollinators for crop plants. Beyond that, insect loss is an indicator that something is happening to our environment and the effects are probably not going to be positive. Treat this as a warning. Edit: added statement about license plat vs airflow

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
Is it possible that it is a redistribution of the insect population to have more walkers than flyers or maybe even flying insects have learned how to avoid vehicles? How have bird strikes by cars changed over the last century? What if part of the issue is that we aren’t accounting for certain species starting to fly 8 feet higher?m because of the obvious evolutionary pressure?
rootusrootus 4y ago
I actually wouldn't be surprised at all if we've improved airflow relative to license plates, as well. The whole push to increase fuel economy means figuring out how to get air not to hit anything head-on, which includes bumpers and license plates. But in any case, I really would like better metrics than license plates and windshields. It amounts to anecdotes masquerading as data, and I have to assume that there are scientists who've made more accurate measures over the years that are more objective.
- Tagbert 4y ago
  I'm not sure that anyone thought it important enough to gather the data before.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

Is it possible that it is a redistribution of the insect population to have more walkers than flyers or maybe even flying insects have learned how to avoid vehicles? How have bird strikes by cars changed over the last century? What if part of the issue is that we aren’t accounting for certain species starting to fly 8 feet higher?m because of the obvious evolutionary pressure?

rootusrootus 4y ago

I actually wouldn't be surprised at all if we've improved airflow relative to license plates, as well. The whole push to increase fuel economy means figuring out how to get air not to hit anything head-on, which includes bumpers and license plates. But in any case, I really would like better metrics than license plates and windshields. It amounts to anecdotes masquerading as data, and I have to assume that there are scientists who've made more accurate measures over the years that are more objective.

Tagbert 4y ago
I'm not sure that anyone thought it important enough to gather the data before.