insects

The Insect Apocalypse Is Coming: Here Are 5 Lessons We Must Learn

The Insect Apocalypse Is Coming: Here Are 5 Lessons We Must Learn

By Robert Walker In a new report, scientists warn of a precipitous drop in the world’s insect population. We need to pay close attention, as over time, this could be just as catastrophic to humans as it is to insects. Special attention must be paid to the principal drivers of this insect decline, because while […]

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    Tens of Thousands of Species at Risk if Warming Exceeds 1.5°C

    Tens of Thousands of Species at Risk if Warming Exceeds 1.5°C

    Sticking to aggressive decarbonization targets laid out under the Paris agreement is crucial to saving thousands of species that form the basis of the planet’s ecosystem, according to new research. A study published Thursday in the journal Science used 21 different climate scenarios, based on different degrees of warming, to predict changes to the habitat […]

    Friend or Food? Why Venus Flytraps Don’t Eat Their Pollinators

    Friend or Food? Why Venus Flytraps Don’t Eat Their Pollinators

    By Clyde Sorenson, Elsa Youngsteadt and Rebecca Irwin The Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, lives in a tough neighborhood. It only grows in 12 counties in coastal North and South Carolina, in soils that are very nutrient-poor and often waterlogged. To augment these starvation resources, it captures and digests insects and other animal prey. Of the […]

    EU-Wide Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides Likely After Major Review

    EU-Wide Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides Likely After Major Review

    The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in a new assessment that “most uses” of three widely used neonicotinoids—imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam—pose a risk to wild bees and honeybees, which play a crucial role in pollination across the globe. The conclusion, based on analysis of more than 1,500 studies, will likely prompt a total ban […]

    German Nature Reserves Have Lost More Than 75% of Flying Insects

    German Nature Reserves Have Lost More Than 75% of Flying Insects

    A new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE adds more evidence that insect populations around the globe are in perilous decline. For the study, researchers from Radboud University in the Netherlands, alongside their German and English colleagues, measured the biomass of trapped flying insects at 63 nature preserves in Germany since 1989. They […]

    Why Are America’s Bats Disappearing?

    Why Are America’s Bats Disappearing?

    By John R. Platt It’s Friday evening in Pittsburgh, and the mosquitoes are out in force. One bites at my arm and I try to slap it away. Another takes the opportunity to land on my neck. I manage to shoo this one off before it tastes blood. I’m at Carrie Furnaces, a massive historic […]