The weather had finally started to cool down. Normally that causes my entryway to fill up with hundreds of Japanese beetles. I've only seen two or three anywhere so far so I couldn't help wondering where they went.
Have you noticed a decline in the number of certain insects this year too? Of course we had fewer mosquitoes due to the dry summer causing fewer places for them to breed but I've also noticed a lack of other bugs that I'm used to seeing in large numbers around here.
There were virtually no earwigs in my garden, or in the apples I cut up this year. I don't spray my apple tree and it's never been unusual to cut an apple in half and discover an inhabitant. This year I saw very few earwigs anywhere. Also during apple season I usually have to create numerous fruit fly traps in my kitchen as the little devils are everywhere. Not this year. I only had a few and they were no problem at all. The other day two of my friends mentioned seeing swarms of flying ants. We have had a colony near our side door for many years now. They usually emerge from the crack between two slabs of my sidewalk. This year, just like the Japanese beetles, there is no sign of them. Where have all these bugs gone?
I was chalking all this up to this year's hot, dry weather but an article on CTV news let me know this is not just a local phenomenon. A lot of non-pest type insects seem to be in the decline throughout the world. Unfortunately mosquitoes, ticks, aphids and cockroaches all seem to be doing fine.
Scientists are starting to worry about the decline in the inset population. They are pretty sure that across the globe there are fewer insects that are crucial to as much as 80% of what we eat. Without insects we will have a total ecosystem collapse. We have heard a lot about the decline of the bee populations in recent years but it is becoming evident that the problem goes much further than that. The use of pesticides, the spread of mono-culture crops such as corn and soybeans, urbanization and the destruction of the natural habitats as the human population grows are all factors. Hopefully we all start to see the insects as necessary to our own survival and find a way to take action to reverse the situation before it becomes too late. As happy as we are not to have them pestering us, we have to come to realize they are necessary for our very survival. There is an old saying about men that we will now have to apply to insects as well. You can't live with them but you can't live without them. Think about that.
Have you noticed a decline in the number of certain insects this year too? Of course we had fewer mosquitoes due to the dry summer causing fewer places for them to breed but I've also noticed a lack of other bugs that I'm used to seeing in large numbers around here.There were virtually no earwigs in my garden, or in the apples I cut up this year. I don't spray my apple tree and it's never been unusual to cut an apple in half and discover an inhabitant. This year I saw very few earwigs anywhere. Also during apple season I usually have to create numerous fruit fly traps in my kitchen as the little devils are everywhere. Not this year. I only had a few and they were no problem at all. The other day two of my friends mentioned seeing swarms of flying ants. We have had a colony near our side door for many years now. They usually emerge from the crack between two slabs of my sidewalk. This year, just like the Japanese beetles, there is no sign of them. Where have all these bugs gone?
I was chalking all this up to this year's hot, dry weather but an article on CTV news let me know this is not just a local phenomenon. A lot of non-pest type insects seem to be in the decline throughout the world. Unfortunately mosquitoes, ticks, aphids and cockroaches all seem to be doing fine.
Scientists are starting to worry about the decline in the inset population. They are pretty sure that across the globe there are fewer insects that are crucial to as much as 80% of what we eat. Without insects we will have a total ecosystem collapse. We have heard a lot about the decline of the bee populations in recent years but it is becoming evident that the problem goes much further than that. The use of pesticides, the spread of mono-culture crops such as corn and soybeans, urbanization and the destruction of the natural habitats as the human population grows are all factors. Hopefully we all start to see the insects as necessary to our own survival and find a way to take action to reverse the situation before it becomes too late. As happy as we are not to have them pestering us, we have to come to realize they are necessary for our very survival. There is an old saying about men that we will now have to apply to insects as well. You can't live with them but you can't live without them. Think about that.
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