Tag: gardening

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature · Uncategorized

We Can Reverse Insectageddon

pattisherlock

On my first date, a boy took me to a movie. His dad drove us, and his little brother, age 8, came along.

The movie featured a villainous giant spider with hairy legs and hideous fangs. I had hoped my date would hold my hand, but he couldn’t. My hands covered my eyes. Little Brother dove under his seat and hid.


Periodically, a movie, book, or article predicted a future where fragile humans would cede their dominance to durable insects, usually creepy ones.    

That forecast hasn’t come true. Instead, insects have declined precipitously and some species have gone extinct. Even scientists who disagree with the idea of an insect apocalypse don’t dispute the losses. They argue that we have not identified all insect species because they are so numerous, so we don’t have the entire picture.


But we know about bees and butterflies, and the loss of birds who depended on insects for their diet. That is well-documented.    


Harmful chemicals, urban encroachment and habitat loss, intensive farming and climate change all play a role in insect decline, and harm for the plants and animals who depend on them.

These problems feel overwhelming. But a 2007 book, Nature’s Best Hope—A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, became a bestseller by telling readers they could bring back the insects and birds. The author, Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist, urged people to convert their yards from lawns to native plants.


Tallamy had an ambitious proposal. If every American converted half of their lawn to native plants, it would restore 20 million acres of ecological wasteland. That would comprise the country’s largest park system.


Native plants advocates tell us that soil and weather conditions give those plants an edge over nonnative grasses and plants. And nourish birds and other species.   
But as someone trying to convert a large section of lawn to native plants, I have seen that grass doesn’t surrender territory without a long, bitter fight. And sadly, nonnative weeds also can push aside beneficial plants.


I have planted species known to be aggressive that lost out to grass and invasive weeds. The past few years have shown me which native plants will hold their own in my yard against grass and intrusive plants. Yet, grown at a neighbor’s place, those same plants might struggle.


In hindsight, it might have been better to experiment with small areas that I could monitor before trying to convert a large chunk of property. 

  
Converting half of U.S lawns stands as a great goal. But to people who can’t conceive of yards without border-to-border green lawn, it sounds radical. If each of us would convert just a section of property, we could help bees, butterflies, and the birds that we love, and overcome our feeling of helplessness.


Legions of people rent houses and apartments and have no say over the grounds where they live. Those folks can advocate for native plants in public spaces, and plant beneficial plants in pots to place on balconies and porches.     


Here is the National Wildlife Federation web site for advice on native plants: http://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder.

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

The Cassandra Effect and Bees

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Cassandra, the King of Troy’s beautiful daughter, turned the head of the god Apollo. Wanting to impress her, Apollo bestowed on her the gift of prophecy. But she wouldn’t have him, and he cursed her. She could see the future, but no one would believe her.
The gift brought her misery. Foreseeing death and chaos, she warned the people of Troy not to open the city gates to a giant wooden horse, a gift from the Greeks. No one heeded her. Greek soldiers who hid inside the horse sacked and pillaged Troy.
The myth expresses a truth we see played out in real life. We humans don’t like dire news and turn a deaf ear to it. Some want to dismiss the latest figures about the decline of bees. The report says that over 60 percent of bee colonies were lost during the last year.
 “No way,” some cry. Losses during the past two decades sometimes reached as high as 50 percent, which was alarming enough. But organizations like the National Resource Defense Council and the Department of Agriculture stand by the disturbing new figures.

Of course people want to disbelieve. Three-quarters of our key food crops depend on bees and other pollinators. Experts tell of a general insect apocalypse, and we don’t miss some bugs. But we recognize our dependence on pollinators.
Many factors contribute. Climate change means more extreme weather. Too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry. Flowers may bloom too early or too late for emerging bees. Loss of habitat factors in. Development means loss of native plants species. Monoculture—huge tracts of land given over to one crop—means bees don’t get the variety of blooms they need.
Varroa mites menace hives, and bees weakened by chemicals can’t overcome them.     
The bee industry cannot understand why the U.S. allows neonics, a family of chemicals that have been banned in the EU and many other countries. Study after study confirms that neonics, present in agrochemicals, harm bees, wild and domestic. A strong corporate lobby defeats attempts to stop their use.
The decline in bee health should raise other alarms. A body of evidence shows that neonics pose health hazards for humans, including threats of neurological and developmental damage to children, especially those exposed in the womb. The chemicals remain in the soil and don’t dissipate.
We wish awful statistics and the gloomy people who present them would go away. But Cassandra shows us. We should listen to prophets.     

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · nature

Insect Apocalypse

pattisherlock

A visit to a Montreal insectarium awakened in me something that went dormant decades ago. Affection for bugs.

When I was a child, a nearby creek in a cow pasture held numbers of water skippers. I lay in the grass and watched them. Graceful dragonflies hovered above the water, but I kept my eye on them because a neighbor kid had told me they used their tapered abdomens to take stitches in human skin. (Not true.)

At the Montreal museum, kids sat mesmerized while a parade of leaf-cutter ants carried green and pink leaf slivers across a log. Shiny beetles with blue and red fluorescent stripes attracted admirers, and adults and kids alike froze when a butterfly flew near, hoping it would light on them and bring them good luck.  

Globally, the insect population declines each year because of deforestation, pesticides, light pollution, and climate change. People who never liked bugs anyway need not see this as good news. Bugs undergird the food chain—reptiles, birds, and mammals rely on them for food.  A yellow jacket feeds a blackbird who feeds a red fox who feeds a majestic hawk. Insects tether all freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems in the world, and humans need pollinators in their gardens and orchards. 

Fireflies who once blinked on when darkness came have vanished from many of their home regions. The plight of migrating butterflies and honey bees is well-publicized.  

Around the globe, insects pollinate more than 75 percent of crops. In the US, insects perform services estimated at $57 billion per year. Dung beetles alone are worth $380 million per year to the US cattle industry because they break down manure and churn range land soil.

This doesn’t refute that some insects are creepy. At one display, I strained to see insects but saw only twigs, some nine or ten inches long. Then a big twig moved. I would hate to pick up a twig and discover it was a giant insect in camo.

Not everyone agrees that insect populations are in decline. Some insect populations are growing. Unfortunately, the ones increasing in number are mostly pests.

Can the average person do something to help beneficial insects? Yes.

Favor native plants over ornamentals. A rabbit brush plant supports 37 different species of insects, including honey bees.

Reduce or eliminate yard lights.  

Seek natural methods to control destructive insects. If none are available, find commercial products that target the harmful actors.  

Instead of mowing and weed whacking around trees, leave mounds of grass and leaves. When insects and their larvae fall out of trees, they will have a place to thrive.   

Postpone mowing grass until late spring. This helps insects at a crucial time, and contributes to lawn health. Many communities observe no-mow March or no-mow May, depending on when spring comes to their area. Those communities have significantly increased their pollinator populations.  

bee health · beekeeping · bees, pollinators, beekeeping, environment · natural cures · nature

Where Have All the Insects Gone?

pattisherlock

Ladybugs occupied my 125-year-old farmhouse before I did.

During cold months, they cluster in ceiling corners, and when it warms they march across the kitchen ceiling or dance on the keyboard in my office while I type. Sometimes, one falls into my tea. 

I don’t know if a previous resident invited them in, or if the ladybugs discovered this snug home on their own. Small as they are, when one falls on my head it goes boink, and startles me. At first, if I found a ladybug strolling across the stove or asleep on the bread board, I would move her to a house plant. I don’t anymore. We co-exist.    

We humans are inconsistent. We love butterflies, bees, praying mantis, dragonflies and ladybugs. Other insects annoy us, and we actively hate fleas, roaches, mosquitoes and bedbugs. If I had inherited ordinary insects, they would be gone. But ladybugs have a good name. They are a symbol of good luck in some cultures, and the friend of gardeners in our section of the world.

I have no idea what my house ladybugs eat. I never see them land on house plants or on the vegetables and fruit in the produce basket. Outside in the garden, they feed on pests like aphids, and they throng to my raspberry patch.  

Entomologists know that insects play a vital role in the ecosystem, but science hasn’t studied them to the extent that mammals, birds, and reptiles have been observed. So we have to estimate how much their numbers have declined.    

Some of us remember car trips when we had to stop to clean insects off the windshield so we could see. We know pollinators are in trouble because scientists and food growers watch them closely. Lately, the decline of insects has gained attention across the world.  

The causes of the decline are the same as those that have harmed pollinators. Loss of habitat, pesticide use, particularly insecticides, intensive agriculture, invasive species, and climate change. Science has begun to consider light pollution as a factor, too.     

Studies on insect numbers have come mostly from Europe and the United States, though those countries have only 20 percent of the world’s insects. Those numbers estimate that land insects are declining by 9 percent a year. Some fresh water insects have increased in numbers, maybe because of clean-up in lakes, but they account for a smaller number of species. Some species have gone extinct, while others are heading toward that.   

Entomologists working on six continents estimated in 2019 that on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, the severity of the insect crisis is 8–10.

Next time:  Insectogedden