Warning of “Ecological Armageddon” After 75% Plunge in Insect Numbers

MrDeaf said:
pesticides working as intended.

I know we really only want to kill the ones that bite us and spread disease, but I don't think there are many ways to target specific insects.
What we do is akin to carpet bombing. 100% effective at killing everything in the zone, collateral be damned.
Click to expand...

I'd support efforts to make all human nuisance species extinct through alternative methods, like international breeding habitat sabotage and releasing genetically altered insects that cannot breed, competing out breeding populations, like has been proposed for the Ardis Egypti mosquito.

Once all nuisance species have been made extinct we no longer need to spray insecticides and the non-nuisance species can recover.

I don't know ow where this nonsense idea that every species is worth saving came from. For those that can harm us, I say exterminate!
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'd support efforts to make all human nuisance species extinct through alternative methods, like international breeding habitat sabotage and releasing genetically altered insects that cannot breed, competing out breeding populations, like has been proposed for the Ardis Egypti mosquito.

Once all nuisance species have been made extinct we no longer need to spray insecticides and the non-nuisance species can recover.

I don't know ow where this nonsense idea that every species is worth saving came from. For those that can harm us, I say exterminate!
Click to expand...

Life will find a way. Exterminate the "nuisance" species that exist now, and others will move into that position. They may not be insects, but other species will assume the role.

From the point of view of the Christian: God cursed us in Genesis to have to work for our food, and anything that might prevent that will always fail. Also, the struggle builds character. Without the struggle, people become lazy and selfish, and eventually destroy themselves.

From the point of view of the Atheist: Evolution will drive other species to fill in gaps left by extinct species. Also, the struggle builds strength. Without struggle, humanity will die.

There simply isn't a way to avoid these things. We must struggle against them to make our lives work. Trying to completely defeat such things and remove them will only backfire.
 
toddw said:
There are just to many people. I think in future governments will set population limits... they'll have to. What's sustainable? 2 billion?
Click to expand...
Canada has the greatest land mass and less population than California.

We're doing our part.

Heh
 
Quick read of the collection methods:
Most samples only collected one year per location. Only one location had 4 years of collection. Over a 27 year study.
Seems to me that this study assumes that insect density stays the same year to year. Pretty sure my Biology 101 taught that variations in food, weather, predators and other things can cause major swings in populations.

Before screaming ALARM!, they should do a long term study using the same locations every time.
 
I hate 100% of insects and rodents that make it into my home. I especially hate spiders. Part of me wants these disparate creatures destroyed, planet-wide. But, even though I'm not a scientist, I can understand that nature seeks balance. And humans are very adept at throwing the concept of balance off kilter.

But I will never tolerate mice, spiders, or Trumpians in my home.
 
Wyodiver said:
But I will never tolerate mice, spiders, or Trumpians in my home.
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
Master_shake_ said:
Canada has the greatest land mass and less population than California.

We're doing our part.

Heh
Click to expand...
Yeah but you're still concentrated in your population which for all effective purposes is having a heavily populated area. Oh and what do you bring to the table as far as food ? Maple syrup and reindeer meat? :D
main-qimg-073611f762cf3ef329ee65a5d65baa58
 
Koween said:
I think it's pretty clear that we, humans, are unable to be a part of nature and it has been this way for a very long time. Even if we really want - we can't. Humans have caused extinctions of many animal species way before civilisation rose, and now, with all the technology available to us that amplifies everything we do - it's just getting worse. Sure, there's "green" this and "green" that, but it's more of a token at this point.
I hope I'm wrong, but it sure doesn't seem like it. We're unable to be a part of a healthy ecosystem - we always try to "fix" it even though we can't even fully comprehend or understand it.
Click to expand...
Humans are a part of nature, and everything we do is natural. A skyscraper is every bit as natural as a termite mound. Manmade climate change would be natural as well.
 
Bees - cool. we seriously need more of them for pollination purposes.
Butterflies - cool
Fireflies - cool
Dragonflies - cool
Moths - some are cool

Every other bug with wings can seriously go fuck off till extinction. If that means we get trillions of all these cool bugs to feed other animals, I'm fine with that.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah but you're still concentrated in your population which for all effective purposes is having a heavily populated area. Oh and what do you bring to the table as far as food ? Maple syrup and reindeer meat? :D
main-qimg-073611f762cf3ef329ee65a5d65baa58
Click to expand...

can you blame us?

it's cold up there.
 
cyclone3d said:
I refrain from using the term "climate change" because then all the wackos who think that we humans can actually affect the climate start coming out of the woodwork like flies swarm to feces.
Click to expand...
I like this comment. Have an up vote or whatever.
 
toddw said:
There are just to many people. I think in future governments will set population limits... they'll have to. What's sustainable? 2 billion?
Click to expand...

Well since we already have 7 Billion on the planet I guess sustainable is more than that. I ran the numbers once to see how things like population look when put into perspective. If you take every single human being and give them all 3000 square feet of space, larger than most houses or apartments, give that to every single person on Earth and put them side by side, that living space would only cover the land mass of Greenland, and have some room to spare. So in essence you could put every human on Earth on Greenland and have the rest of the planet to grow food on to supply them.

People look at cities and think how crowded we are, but when you think of all the unused space on the planet, we really don't use that much of the planet for living. Some studies say we could sustain up to five times as many people with no problem, other than those people fighting over things which don't really matter as far as survival. The biggest reason there are things like starvation is not that the planet can't support the population, but that the people and governments won't get along enough to evenly distribute the necessary supplies. Most of the scare about over population is fear mongering by governments wanting more reasons for greater control over the people.

Master_shake_ said:
Good fuck mosquitos.
Click to expand...

You gotta have good aim do to that :p
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah but you're still concentrated in your population which for all effective purposes is having a heavily populated area. Oh and what do you bring to the table as far as food ? Maple syrup and reindeer meat? :D
main-qimg-073611f762cf3ef329ee65a5d65baa58
Click to expand...
 
I'll never trust Canadians. There's just something...off...about them. That Linus computer guy is a great example. He's almost close enough to fool us. Almost.

And he raises Canadian gerbils, which he smuggles "Richard Gere" style into our beloved United States.

He, and all Canadians, must be stopped.

Now!
 
It's cool to be flip and funny, but you guys aren't seeing the big picture. We're talking global ecosystem collapse. Starvation of all species (at this rate) probably around a decade or so from now. Assuming the numbers are correct of course.

I think I would rather drown or freeze. :-/
 
I've seen a ton of dragonflies & butterflies here in South Korea. I get that that there may be a reduction in certain places but elsewhere there appears to be an increase. Overblown outrage = false news?
 
Goldheart said:
It's cool to be flip and funny, but you guys aren't seeing the big picture. We're talking global ecosystem collapse. Starvation of all species (at this rate) probably around a decade or so from now. Assuming the numbers are correct of course.

I think I would rather drown or freeze. :-/
Click to expand...
OMG! I am scared. This could be like the global oil shortage, or global warming, or.... Hey wait a minute! Are you putting me on?
 
There are too many. Is it so hard to fathom? Mexico
Goldheart said:
It's cool to be flip and funny, but you guys aren't seeing the big picture. We're talking global ecosystem collapse. Starvation of all species (at this rate) probably around a decade or so from now. Assuming the numbers are correct of course.

I think I would rather drown or freeze. :-/
Click to expand...


No, they don't. You can't expect much from people. There are too many and most of them are dumb as f.... Delete 6 billions and it's all good.
 
jedijeb13 said:
Well since we already have 7 Billion on the planet I guess sustainable is more than that. I ran the numbers once to see how things like population look when put into perspective. If you take every single human being and give them all 3000 square feet of space, larger than most houses or apartments, give that to every single person on Earth and put them side by side, that living space would only cover the land mass of Greenland, and have some room to spare. So in essence you could put every human on Earth on Greenland and have the rest of the planet to grow food on to supply them.

People look at cities and think how crowded we are, but when you think of all the unused space on the planet, we really don't use that much of the planet for living. Some studies say we could sustain up to five times as many people with no problem, other than those people fighting over things which don't really matter as far as survival. The biggest reason there are things like starvation is not that the planet can't support the population, but that the people and governments won't get along enough to evenly distribute the necessary supplies. Most of the scare about over population is fear mongering by governments wanting more reasons for greater control over the people.



You gotta have good aim do to that :p
Click to expand...


There was barely one billion people 100 years ago. There were 15 million Mexicans back then now you have 125 millions, 300 millions in India etc. Not much has changed in Europe until now.
 
Iching said:
There are too many. Is it so hard to fathom? Mexico



No, they don't. You can't expect much from people. There are too many and most of them are dumb as f.... Delete 6 billions and it's all good.
Click to expand...
Oh WOW! This guy! When you reduce yourself to the level of an insect, and cheer on the death of humanity. Fuck you! Cultural Marxist twat!
 
All this doom and gloom is wearing me down, let's just get it over.

I want to live Fall Out 4, not play it.
 
Eventually we will be the bugs that Earth stomps out.
 
MrDeaf said:
pesticides working as intended.

I know we really only want to kill the ones that bite us and spread disease, but I don't think there are many ways to target specific insects.
What we do is akin to carpet bombing. 100% effective at killing everything in the zone, collateral be damned.
Click to expand...

Not that effective. It seems all the most obnoxious bugs, mosquitoes, fleas, bed bugs, ticks, lice, tawny ants (way worse than fire ants), termites, etc. are on the rise in population pretty much everywhere. Only the good bugs (bees) seem to be on the decline. Isn't nature wonderful?
 
Nukester said:
The Fire Ants took over.
Click to expand...

And they are being replaced by an even worse, nearly impossible to remove monster known as tawny ants. They have a particular affinity for electronics and have been known to clump up inside appliances or electric boxes outside, clog and eventually blow up the device. They wrecked havoc on NASA in houston a year or so ago, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. They, as mentioned before, are also nearly impossible to get rid of as they have no nest and they run around randomly and quickly so this makes them very difficult to tracjk too. They are way, WAY worse than fire ants.

But they eat fire ants as they are immune to their venom. Still, I'd take fire ants any day and unfortunately whenever tawny ants move in, they wipe out all fire ant colonies.
 
wyqtor said:
As much as I would be happy to see cockroaches, mosquitoes, and flies wiped out for good, this could be very bad news. Bees, for example, are key species to entire ecosystems. Get rid of them, and you get rid of the next generation of flowering plants, too.
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure the world could survive very well without fleas, mosquitoes, bed bugs, biting flies, ticks, pretty much any parasite insect as they serve zero purpose other than to exist.
 
Koween said:
I think it's pretty clear that we, humans, are unable to be a part of nature and it has been this way for a very long time. Even if we really want - we can't. Humans have caused extinctions of many animal species way before civilisation rose, and now, with all the technology available to us that amplifies everything we do - it's just getting worse. Sure, there's "green" this and "green" that, but it's more of a token at this point.
I hope I'm wrong, but it sure doesn't seem like it. We're unable to be a part of a healthy ecosystem - we always try to "fix" it even though we can't even fully comprehend or understand it.
Click to expand...
Tough break for Nature
 
I don't mind insects living around plantations. People should've expected those when they decided to have gardens.
But household bugs like cockroaches should NOT exist. They all deserve to die painful deaths.
 
HorseproofBacon said:
And they are being replaced by an even worse, nearly impossible to remove monster known as tawny ants. They have a particular affinity for electronics and have been known to clump up inside appliances or electric boxes outside, clog and eventually blow up the device. They wrecked havoc on NASA in houston a year or so ago, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. They, as mentioned before, are also nearly impossible to get rid of as they have no nest and they run around randomly and quickly so this makes them very difficult to tracjk too. They are way, WAY worse than fire ants.

But they eat fire ants as they are immune to their venom. Still, I'd take fire ants any day and unfortunately whenever tawny ants move in, they wipe out all fire ant colonies.
Click to expand...

Both can go back to Africa. Or we do a mass extermination
 
Emission said:
Hmmm.....
Click to expand...


And, if you have numbers calculated by capturing large numbers of insects, and you have these numbers for both Summer and Fall as was stated, that does capturing 3,000+ a year contribute to the lessening population?

Or is Germany a Catch and Release state ?

And as some are mentioning or hinting around. Insect populations aren't necessarily a consistent thing. I was TDY to Killeen, TX back around 2005 and they were having a massive cricket infestation. Couldn't keep them out of my hotel room, I had them crawl in the damn bed with me. They were so bad that they were in patches on the walls of buildings visible from the street, crawling down the sidewalks 30 or more always in easy sight. It was freaky, but I think it's a once in a great while occurrence that isn't just limited to crickets.

Such things can change in cycles.
 
HorseproofBacon said:
I'm quite sure the world could survive very well without fleas, mosquitoes, bed bugs, biting flies, ticks, pretty much any parasite insect as they serve zero purpose other than to exist.
Click to expand...

But they spread disease. Infected animals that survive the disease develop antibodies that resist the disease and the antibodies are passed on to the young so that future generations are born with a chance to survive bug Armageddon.

There is a mechanism of nature involved here and I would just say that one must be careful what one asks for, you just might get it.
 
nubbin77 said:
Meanwhile in my backyard, it feels like there are 75% more flying bugs.
Click to expand...

exactly, funny that i see this thread after i just finishing spraying a house down with pesticide to kill the thousands of lady bugs covering the walls and outside of the house. Seems like there are lots of bugs to me.
 
Shit, this year was the worst mosquito, tick, stink bug, weevil, gnat, sweat bee year I've ever seen. Just buggy as hell in general.

Apparently the %75 missing bugs stated in the article came to central Ohio.
 
Goldheart said:
It's cool to be flip and funny, but you guys aren't seeing the big picture. We're talking global ecosystem collapse. Starvation of all species (at this rate) probably around a decade or so from now. Assuming the numbers are correct of course.

I think I would rather drown or freeze. :-/
Click to expand...

The science is bad so it is not worth trusting the conclusions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top