By Ajit Niranjan Seven ‘no-regret’ actions could rescue insects on the road to extinction, a new roadmap for conservation says, helping ecosystems even where a lack of research means scientists cannot prove benefits to individual species. Earth’s biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates but population data on insects — which are small, diverse and abundant […]
By Kerstin Palme Creepy-crawlies are among the oldest life forms on this planet. Before dinosaurs ever walked the earth, insects were certainly already there. Some estimates date their origins to 400 million years ago. They’re also extremely successful. Of the 7 to 8 million species documented on Earth, around three quarters are likely bugs. But […]
By Jake Johnson The rapid and dangerous decline of the insect population in the United States — often called an “insect apocalypse” by scientists — has largely been driven by an increase in the toxicity of U.S. agriculture caused by the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS […]
By Jerome Goddard When it comes to problems caused by ticks, Lyme disease hogs a lot of the limelight. But various tick species carry and transmit a collection of other pathogens, some of which cause serious, even fatal, conditions. In fact, the number of tick-borne disease cases is on the rise in the U.S. The […]
By Jessica A. Knoblauch Say goodbye to one of the dreamiest things about childhood. In the Midwest, fireflies are dying off. For many Americans, it’s hard to imagine summer nights without the magical glow of dozens of bioluminescent bodies fluttering above the grasses and fields, and lighting up the dark skies above. But the die-offs […]
More than 40 percent of insects could go extinct globally in the next few decades. So why did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week OK the ’emergency’ use of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor on 13.9 million acres? EcoWatch teamed up with Center for Biological Diversity via EcoWatch Live on Facebook to find out […]
The National Weather Service (NWS) picked up an unusual formation on its San Diego radar Tuesday evening: a swarm of ladybugs. “It was very strange because it was a relatively clear day and we weren’t really expecting any rain or thunderstorms,” NWS San Diego meteorologist Casey Oswant told NPR. “But on our radar, we were […]
By Jake Johnson A leading scientist warned Tuesday that the rapid decline of insects around the world poses an existential threat to humanity and action must be taken to rescue them “while we still have time.” Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and one of the world’s top entomologists, said in […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the kissing bug, which can transmit a potentially deadly parasite, has spread to Delaware, ABC News reported Wednesday. The CDC had warned in September of last year that the bug was spreading north from South and Central America, and had already been sighted in Maryland, […]
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