Why Fewer Bugs Are Splattering On Your Car Windshield Nowadays

[acri1]

Why Fewer Bugs Are Splattering On Your Car Windshield Nowadays
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PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Remember the days when a long drive in high summer would make your car’s windshield look like the site of an insect massacre? If you’ve noticed that this sight is becoming increasingly uncommon, you’re not alone. Scientists have also discovered a decline in the number of bug splatters on car windows, and think that it’s a sign of the much wider “insect apocalypse” affecting our planet.

A recent survey by Kent Wildlife Trust in the UK found that 50 percent fewer insects were splattered on car windscreens compared to 15 years ago. The survey analyzed over 650 car journeys around the southeastern UK county of Kent between June and August 2019. The drivers were asked to report the number of insects splattered on their car’s registration plate.

Compared to a similar survey carried out by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in 2004, the researchers found the number of splattered insects had declined by approximately 50 percent, from an average of 0.2 splats per mile to 0.1 splats per mile.

The researchers wondered whether this decline in bug splats was actually the result of modern cars becoming more aerodynamic and less likely to suffer from a head-on collision with a passing insect, so they actively recruited classic car owners to take part in the survey. However, even while accounting for this, a significant decline in insects was evident.

It’s not the first survey in the world to reach such conclusions either. People have anecdotally talked about this phenomenon since the early 2000s. Over the past 20 years, increasingly more scientific research is proving these suspicions aren’t unfounded. Last year, Danish researchers published a study using this windshield method and noted reductions of 80 to 97 percent. Another study from 2018 also used similar methods around the El Yunque National Forest of Puerto Rico and found insect biomass had fallen by 10 to 60 times since the 1970s.

All of this is a symptom of the wider plight of insects across much of the world. Ecologists are warning that we are on the brink of an “insect apocalypse,” a catastrophic collapse of life that could see 40 percent of the world’s insects become extinct within the next few decades. There are many factors behind this decline of bug life, but scientists frequently point the finger at climate change, the use and abuse of pesticides, destruction of habitat, and disease.

Of course, this is bad news for all of us. Over a third of the world's food crops rely on animal pollinators to reproduce. Effectively, one out of every three bites of fruit and vegetables we eat exists because of animal pollinators, including butterflies, moths, beetles, bees, and many other insects.

If these guys go, we could be in a lot of trouble.

Why Fewer Bugs Are Splattering On Your Car Windshield Nowadays


Ecologically, shyt is not looking good in the long term.

But yeah I definitely remember there being more bugs in general when I was a kid.

 

[Adeptus Astartes]

Fireflies are going extinct, brehs...
We're doomed.

Firefly decline: Insects decline as development destroys habitat

 

[IceDragon]

2018 i remember having to damn near duck and dodge Honeybees, Bumblebees and Wasps all the time while walking around in my city. 2019?, nothing...the numbers were NO where near the same. Maybe all of the hotspot hives were located somewhere else that year but shyt just felt sad man

 

[el_oh_el]

2018 i remember having to damn near duck and dodge Honeybees, Bumblebees and Wasps all the time while walking around in my city. 2019?, nothing...the numbers were NO where near the same. Maybe all of the hotspot hives were located somewhere else that year but shyt just felt sad man

This is what humans collectively asked for. I have kids..but at this point im completely resigned to seeing the planet go to hell within my lifetime

 

[the cac mamba]

 

[Red Shield]

I think the usage of pesticides is the big reason for this...

Not gonna be fun living through a collapse

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Unfortunately the helpful ones are dying and the WOAT insects (mosquitoes and roaches) don’t seem to be going anywhere.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

my windshield in both my cross country drives as well as Oakland - LA hauls begs to differ.

 

[hashmander]

all the mosquito predators must be dying cause those fukkers make outside miserable.

 

[MoneyTron]

When is the last time you saw a butterfly?

I remember seeing them all the time as a kid. Now?

 

[Shogun]

This is what humans collectively asked for. I have kids..but at this point im completely resigned to seeing the planet go to hell within my lifetime

Seems to be what we we're programmed to do....devour everything in our path. It's like we're an invasive species on earth.
Something about it doesn't add up

 

[Geek Nasty]

I guess it's just not all that obvious to me. One of those science vs. anecdotes things. I ride a motorcycle and spend some time outside, and fish too so I see plenty of bugs.

 

[88m3]

we're all going to die

 

[hashmander]

When is the last time you saw a butterfly?

I remember seeing them all the time as a kid. Now?

i see them all the time in my yard. milkweed attracts the caterpillar that becomes a monarch butterfly. passion vines attract the caterpillars of zebra, gulf fritillary and julia butterflies.

 

[RammerJammer]

There were lovebugs all on my windshield last fall.

And gonna be on my windshield again in 2 months