Timely. There's been a lot of people saying things like "as a child, my backyard was full of butterflies, but now, there are no more butterflies, it's sad what we've done to the environment". But me, I see the exact same number of butterflies (or fireflies, or gnats, or whatever the person remembers). In fact I'm sure that soon there will be several such comments here, too. So this paper, which meta-analyzes the actual scientific measurement of the number of bugs in an area, is hopefully going to kick off some more rigorous research so we can get to a conclusion.
Nice to see that "swatting with badminton rackets" isn't endangering them enough to make the article. As someone who was raised in a firefly-dense rural area, let me tell you, the thrill of the bioluminescent sparks is the closest I got to cocaine as a kid.
30 years ago we caught them in glass jars. They were so dense in rural Missouri that you could catch several at a time by swinging an open container through the air.
A city or town with no haze or light pollution? Where is that magical place?
While traveling even in rural parts of less-developed countries, there was a glow in the sky from nearby cities. When opening the curtains the sky was brighter than my room in the middle of the night.
As kid in Virginia in the 60s Summer evenings were magical - Lightening Bug galore. Then mosquito spraying began. The mosquitos remained - Lightening Bugs not so much:(
Seasonal reminder: many insect species need the shelter of fallen leaves now and until springtime.
Modern lawn-care practices amount to devastating habitat loss. You can learn more about good choices for your area from your local county extension office.
If your office has been defunded, you can also try your friendly neighborhood public librarian.
This is why we don't have fireflys anymore. They were everywhere growing up. They lay eggs on the bottoms of fallen leaves. HOA's demand you rake your leaves. This kills the firefly.
Also undisturbed grass is great for ground nesting birds! We saw them return when we left a field fallow in Ireland. Less helpful in suburbia admittedly
>> DO NOT RAKE YOUR LAWNS. This is why we don't have fireflys anymore
Or, don't have lawns. Suburban grass lawns are a very unnatural structure and I find it odd that any insect would be so dependent on them. Raking leaves immediately around houses is an important fire safety measure. Perhaps the better option is to minimize lawns in favor of natural forest/tree cover where leaves are more likely to rot before they dry out enough to become a fire hazard.
Where I live tall grass is the natural structure. We have a lot of trees in our suburbs - but they don't belong at all (except on river bottoms), grass is correct (not mowed grass, but grass)
Everyone else: figure out what is correct for where you live. There is no one correct answer for everybody.
I wish it was just raking at this point. The only person I've seen raking in many years is my 90+ year-old neighbor. Everyone else has the backpack leafblower SWAT teams.
We always raked our lawn when I was a child (and I did a lot of the raking), as did my grandparents who lived in their house for 40 years before I was born, yet there were always plenty of fireflies. I don't think you can blame raking for killing them off.
we should teach our children to live as friends with insects and other living creatures. When we were kids,we weren't this aware of it. but now I hope its time to act consciously and take action.
Spiders are like senior members of nature's janitorial staff. I've seen them convert a periodic trail of ants into a mass grave within a few days.
Everyone I know who hires an exterminator has significantly worse issues than the occasional spider sighting. I don't actively encourage them but I also don't try to clean their homes out aggressively. I'll do yard work around them (they get until next time to move). Arachnids are unusually intelligent given their size and often seem to get the hint.
I saw some fireflies a couple of years ago. I hadn't seen any in years and haven't seen any since. They've basically disappeared. Hardly any bugs on the windshield, either. We're losing all kinds of insects.
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[ 0.19 ms ] story [ 13.2 ms ] threadThis channel has some fairly unique practical information on raising them (and some other things as well) for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/@PeppersnGlowworms/playlists
> Herein, we define ‘lost species’ as those with no confirmed observation record within the past decade.
Confirmed from another source [0], which attempts to formalize the language (not that long ago!).
[0] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/lost-bu...
seeing only manufactured wonders, with no longing for what's beyond
While traveling even in rural parts of less-developed countries, there was a glow in the sky from nearby cities. When opening the curtains the sky was brighter than my room in the middle of the night.
My kids think it's a big deal when they see one, and we live in a rural area with very little spraying happening.
Modern lawn-care practices amount to devastating habitat loss. You can learn more about good choices for your area from your local county extension office.
If your office has been defunded, you can also try your friendly neighborhood public librarian.
This is why we don't have fireflys anymore. They were everywhere growing up. They lay eggs on the bottoms of fallen leaves. HOA's demand you rake your leaves. This kills the firefly.
Or, don't have lawns. Suburban grass lawns are a very unnatural structure and I find it odd that any insect would be so dependent on them. Raking leaves immediately around houses is an important fire safety measure. Perhaps the better option is to minimize lawns in favor of natural forest/tree cover where leaves are more likely to rot before they dry out enough to become a fire hazard.
Everyone else: figure out what is correct for where you live. There is no one correct answer for everybody.
Spiders are like senior members of nature's janitorial staff. I've seen them convert a periodic trail of ants into a mass grave within a few days.
Everyone I know who hires an exterminator has significantly worse issues than the occasional spider sighting. I don't actively encourage them but I also don't try to clean their homes out aggressively. I'll do yard work around them (they get until next time to move). Arachnids are unusually intelligent given their size and often seem to get the hint.