MiroJun 6
Vee
What's been lost...
Entomologists from Krefeld, Germany, collected flying insects for two weeks in August 1994 (left) and—at the same site, with an identical trap— in August 2016 (right). Similar data from 63 German protected areas overall gave a shocking result: a 76 percent drop in insect biomass between 1989 and 2016.
It has worsened significantly in the past 9 years.
Photographed at Entomological Society of Krefeld
Jun 5 at 9:56pmWeb
Show threadRoy -- the dull oneJun 5

@VeroniqueB99

This is not a "like" showing that I like the info you shared, but rather a "like" that you are publicizing something important. Thank you.

Show threadVeeJun 5
@oldclumsy_nowmad YW..It happens... every once in a while... 😜
Show threadRoy -- the dull oneJun 5

@VeroniqueB99

Rather often, I'd say.

Show threadVeeJun 5
@oldclumsy_nowmad 🥰 TY!!
Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShellJun 5

@VeroniqueB99

In the knock on effect, all this is no food for birds and a lot of other animals and so much for all the nutrient transfer. This represents as well..

This is a disintegration of working ecosystems, which means that the carrying capacity of the planet capacity for life to produce itself is taking a nose dive

Show threadVeeJun 6
@GhostOnTheHalfShell 👍
Show threadParttimesailorJun 5
@VeroniqueB99 unfortunately lacks context about changes from then until now.
Show threadregenrohrJun 6
@JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99 meaning?
Show threadWellsiteGeoJun 6
@regenrohr @JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99
He (? Maybe.) is trying to deny that there is a problem.
Failing, but trying.
Show threadFusselwurmJun 7

@regenrohr @JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99

Meaning that there might be a lot of variation between the years. Like… maybe August 1994 was an exceptionably good month for insects, and 2016 a very bad one.

(for the record, I believe this to be rather unlikely)

Show threadMatej LexaJun 6
@JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99 At least two of three likely factors increased in intensity in the last decades: radio noise, light smog, and chemicals.
Show threadCindyJun 6
@matej_lexa @JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99
IDK anything about How radio noise interplays ~ will you please explain This, a little?
Show threadMatej LexaJun 6
@TrueBlue4THREE @JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99 I know it is being studied, like here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723038342
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31949179/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24750263.2024.2308550#abstract
Show threadCindyJun 6
@matej_lexa @JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99
Thank You, I will check it out😊
Show threadWellsiteGeoJun 6

@JCBlubaugh @VeroniqueB99
I recall reports from the late 90s - about the time I got a car again, which is why I noticed it - using bug-splat counts per number plate (fixed size) per 100 km as a biomass estimator saying *then* the counts were substantially down on the decade previously.

It's a multiple-decade, steep decline. Regardless of jiggles in the counts over single years.

Happy now? Entomologists have been reporting this for decades, since before it was fashionable.

Show threadMrinappropriateJun 5
@VeroniqueB99 We.Are.Fucked. This is stark evidence of our planet’s future. We, and many more species will be gone. The planet’ll be fine. Perhaps cockroaches will rule. We do not deserve this home.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@MrInappropriate 👍 💯
Show threadFelisCatusJun 5
@VeroniqueB99 I have been pessimistic about the future of our society for quite some time, but I am starting to believe that it's all going to go to shit even quicker than I thought... Perhaps within 10 years.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@FelisCatus 👍 yup thereabouts...
Show threadLittle Bunny Frou FrouJun 5
@VeroniqueB99 I noticed after a long drive windshields aren't covered in bugs like they were when I was a kid. I miss bugs
Show threadRobinF❌️👑Jun 6
@BunnyBrave @VeroniqueB99 exactly. You can't drive anywhere in summer without it being really noticeable and scary.
Show threadWellsiteGeoJun 6
@BunnyBrave @VeroniqueB99
"Splat counting" is a technique that has also been used. More often with number plates than windscreens, because they're a standard size for one country. Also, flat-on to the motion.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@BunnyBrave 👍
Show threadScriptFanix ❤️ ⏚ ⸫Jun 6
@BunnyBrave 💯 No-one born before the 90s can deny this
@VeroniqueB99
Show thread📄 Mehdi.docJun 7
@BunnyBrave @VeroniqueB99 why do all your methods of counting insects involve killing them 🥲
Show threadLittle Bunny Frou FrouJun 7
@mehdi_benadel
Not all of my methods do, my other method is counting how many insects I can tenderly kiss on the forehead and offer a little snack to but it's much more time consuming
Show threadGaladJun 5
@VeroniqueB99 I highly suspect that this is a direct consequence of pesticides being overused.
Show threadcontrasocialJun 6

@galad @VeroniqueB99

The horrible thing is that similar declines are seen in protected areas with minimal interference from direct human activity like pollutants.

Pesticides definitely don't help, but this is driven by climate change. Many insects and other life are evolved to fit in a very specific environmental niche, when the timing of seasons and weather patterns gets messed up it throws the life cycle of these insects into chaos. Like when a tree blooms too early and gets killed by frost

Show threadWellsiteGeoJun 6

@galad @VeroniqueB99
"Used".
Not over-used.

The level of pesticide use compatible with zero biodiversity loss is zero use.

Show threadVeeJun 6
@galad 👍 💯
Show thread☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑‍💻Jun 6

@VeroniqueB99 “for two hours each evening, the site got power and a 25-watt bulb flickered on above the porch. Out of the forest darkness, a tornado of #insects would flock to its glow, spinning and dancing before the light. Lit up, the side of the house would be “absolutely plastered with moths – tens of thousands of them”, #DanielJanzen says. [The walls would be] absolutely plastered with moths – tens of thousands of them… Inspired, he decided to erect a sheet for a light trap with a camera – a common way to document flying insect numbers and diversity. In that first photograph, taken in 1978, the lit-up sheet is so thickly studded with moths that in places the fabric is barely visible, transformed into what looks like densely patterned, crawling wallpaper.

Scientists identified an astonishing 3,000 species from that light trap, and the trajectory of Janzen’s career was transformed, from the study of seeds to a lifetime specialising in the forest’s barely documented populations of caterpillars and moths.

Now 86, Janzen still works in the same research hut in the #Guanacaste (Costa Rica) conservation area, alongside his longtime collaborator, spouse and fellow ecologist, #WinnieHallwachs. But in the forest that surrounds them, something has changed. Trees that once crawled with insects lie uncannily still.”

#ClimateEmergency <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/03/climate-species-collapse-ecology-insects-nature-reserves-aoe>

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

The Guardian
Show threadVeeJun 8
@peterrenshaw 😭
Show threadKanaMaunaJun 6

@VeroniqueB99

About 40 years ago I would have to clean all the dead bugs off my windshield after a visit to my realitives over in the Valley. Nowadays, my windshield is always clean.

Show threadTakiro 🎨Jun 6
@KanaMauna @VeroniqueB99
Exactly this. When I was a kid and travelled with my parents the family car's front was covered in bugs. Now, 30 years later on my own car it's barely worth mentioning. Everyone can see it for themselves, if they want, but most don't.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@Takiro @KanaMauna 👍
Show threadVeeJun 6
@KanaMauna 👍 💯
Show thread Ned HairstonJun 6
@VeroniqueB99 And yet we still have *all* of the annoying ones.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@ned 👍 🤣
Show threadan actual busJun 6

@VeroniqueB99 maybe the trap from 1989 caught all the insects

Seriously though, I can think of many causes for this but I'll share one that has not yet been mentioned here, artificial light. There's so much of it and flying insects b-line for it whenever they see it, that *has* to mess with their life cycle over time.

Show threadMer-fOKxTOwlJun 6

@renardboy @VeroniqueB99 i really hope that first sentence was sarcasm, cause those traps are so small and few (space and time wise) they couldn't even make a visible dent in the population.

let me add to that sarcasm:
now that people erected those traps all over the place, the insects just learned to avoid them! /s

Show threadan actual busJun 6
@glowl @VeroniqueB99 it was indeed sarcasm, the hint was the next paragraph starting with "seriously though", which implies that what preceded it was indeed not serious.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@renardboy 👍 💯
Show threadMaryMarasKittenBakeryJun 6
@renardboy @VeroniqueB99
It certainly is one reason for the decline, yes. There are several, pesticides and loss of habitats are others
Show threadAlexander Goeres 𒀯Jun 6
@Vee everybody who was driving a car for longer distances in the 80s and today can notice the difference. back then you had to stop often enough to clean the windscreen from unlucky insects to keep a clear view. today can go for hours without even one insect hitting the screen ...
Show threadVeeJun 6
@jabgoe2089 👍
Show threadhorstworstJun 6
@VeroniqueB99
It's called "Krefelder Studie" - here is a mention from 2022 (in german)
https://www.riffreporter.de/de/umwelt/insektensterben-krefelder-studie-5-jahre-faq-fragen-antworten-biodiversitaet
@riffreporter
Insektensterben: Wie steht es fünf Jahre nach der Krefelder Studie um die Insekten?

Antworten auf die wichtigsten Fragen

RiffReporter
Show threadVeeJun 6
@horstworst @riffreporter 👍
Show threadFrançois @PragueJun 6

@VeroniqueB99

I bought a piece of land (2000 sq. m). I plan to build a small wooden cottage on it (50 sq. m.) the rest will be filled with trees and flowers for insects and birds.

I also encourage everybody to support rewilding groups. For example, Randal Plunkett and he is the 21st Baron of Dunsany, is a metal head, horor movie director and feminist engaged in rewilding. An original guy worth promoting.

Show threadraweJun 6

@FrancoisPrague can you provide some tips/links, especially what types of flower/tree/plants to grow?

We start with a "small" 200 m² piece of land next week.

@VeroniqueB99

Show threadFrançois @PragueJun 6

@stereo4x4 @VeroniqueB99

It depends where you live and how global warming will affect your locality. For example where I come from, we had fir trees but they won't survive the next 20 years so we had to go for a special kind of oak.

Show threadraweJun 6

@FrancoisPrague You are right... I just asked a local gardener to have a look and recommend plants/trees.

@VeroniqueB99

Show threadVeeJun 6
@FrancoisPrague 👍
Show threadSolar Branka Jun 6

@FrancoisPrague @VeroniqueB99

I found this article interesting -

Guerilla seed bombing -
https://wildseedproject.net/blog/native-seed-balls

Native Seed Balls – Dispersing Seeds with Guerilla Action — Wild Seed Project

There is something satisfying about the idea of tossing seeds of wild flowers or trees into an empty area with the hope that it will magically turn into a flowery meadow or forest. After all, seeds scatter in nature by chance…

Wild Seed Project
Show threadnotsoloudJun 6
@VeroniqueB99
#Alt4You Two cylindrical 2 liter lab glasses, both containing a light brown fluid with a mass of insects at the bottom. The left glass gas more than 1500 mL of insects, the right glass around 250 mL.
Show threadVeeJun 6
@notsoloud TYSM!! 🙏