Tag: insects

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

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

Finally! Good news for bees.

pattisherlock

We who love bees grow weary of incessant bad news about declining bee health. Positive news from the apian world gives some relief as we step into a new year.   

In 2024, Vermont became the latest state to crack down on agricultural use of neonic pesticides. Neonics, a class of chemicals, wreaks havoc on bee populations and has been banned in Europe.

The new Vermont law restricts widespread use of seeds coated with the neurotoxic chemical. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) says a single neonic-coated corn seed contains enough active ingredients to kill a quarter million bees. A high percentage of the pesticide coating leaches into the environment to contaminate soil, water, native plants, and wildlife.  

New York’s Birds and Bees Protection Act, passed in 2023, restricts agricultural use of certain neonic pesticides. It went into effect in July, 2024. The act aims to protect pollinators and the environment, and promote sustainable agriculture.  

In March, 2024, Washington became the 11th state to restrict residential use of neonics, joining California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

At year’s end, Washington State and the US Department of Agriculture announced that murder hornets had been eradicated.  

The giant, Asian hornets were first reported in North America on Vancouver Island, Canada, and later spotted in Washington. Teams began to target and eliminate hornets’ nests. The public cooperated by reporting hornet sightings. Officials believe the hornets never migrated out of Washington. 

Scientists used dental floss to attach tiny radio trackers to live hornets and then follow them back to their nests. Outfitted like astronauts, teams in protective gear arrived to eliminate the nests. Officials credit the alert public with helping them identify and find the insects.  

The insects known as “slaughter hornets” for the way they mount a group attack, posed a serious threat to honeybees. Hornets can wipe out an entire hive in minutes, even though honeybees bravely fight back. A researcher recorded the panic inside a hive when giant hornets arrived. It sounded like screaming.

The hornets posed a threat to wildlife, too, and to humans who are allergic to hornet stings. An attack by multiple hornets could trigger serious consequences in nonallergic people.     

No one knows how the hornets got to the US. Hornets are consumed as food throughout Asia, and used in traditional medicines. It is possible some were illegally imported. Or they may have stowed away accidentally on international shipments.

No confirmed sightings have occurred in three years. That does not mean the hornets won’t come back. But people will keep a sharp eye out for them. In the meantime, Washington beekeepers are breathing easier.