Other insects

Are people good? Is humankind basically benign? In our current belief system, which we might term liberal secular humanism, which has held sway in the West since the Second World War, and which promotes human progress and well-being, only one response is permitted: Yes, of course! Any suggestion that there might be something wrong with people as a whole, with Man as a species, is absolute anathema. But today, two circumstances come together to prompt me to pose the question once more. The first is the ending, this week, of my 15 years as Environment Editor of The Independent. It has been a privilege beyond measure to work for so long for a wonderful newspaper which has put the environment at the heart of its view of the world. We are proud of all we have done about it, from raising the question, in 2000, of the mysterious disappearance of the house sparrow from London and other major cities – we offered a £5,000 prize for a proper scientific explanation, but the mystery remains – to devoting the whole of the front page, in 2011, to the then hardly recognised threat of neonicotinoid insecticides, now an obsession around the globe. But there have been what you might call side effects. For if, over the past decade and a half, you have closely observed what is happening to the Earth, week in, week out, you may take a dark view of the future; and I do. The reason is that the Earth is under threat, as it has never been before, from the ever more oppressive scale of the human enterprise: from the activities of a world population which doubled from three to six billion in four short decades, between 1960 and 2000, and which, in the four decades to come, will probably increase by three billion more. These activities are now wiping out ecosystems and species, across the world, at an ever increasing rate: the forests are chainsawed; the oceans are stripmined of their fish; the rivers, especially in the developing world, are ever more polluted; the farmland is rendered sterile of all but the monoculture crop by demented dosing with pesticides; the farmland insects and wild flowers and many of the birds have gone.

Insgesamt 275 Vereinsmitglieder und Gäste (neuer Rekord seit Altenburg 2007!) fanden sich am vergangenen Wochenende (22-24. März 2013) zur 51. Jahresversammlung und Sächsischen Ornithologentagung des Vereins Sächsischer Ornithologen in der westsächsischen Kleinstadt Hohenstein-Ernstthal ein, wo das „Schützenhaus“ beste Tagungsbedingungen bot. Höhepunkt im wissenschaftlichen Vortragsprogramm am Sonnabend war mit Sicherheit der Vortrag des niederländischen Toxikologen und Krebsforschers Dr. Henk Tennekes, der über neuartige Pestizide in der Landwirtschaft und deren katastrophalen Folgen auf die Nahrungskette in der Natur sprach. Viele Zuhörer zeigten sich nach diesen Ausführungen betroffen, ja geschockt und forderten eine Reaktion vom Verein. Wie daher zur Mitgliederversammlung beschlossen, wird der VSO eine entsprechende Petition an die Bundesregierung und die EU richten.

As part of a study on impacts from the world’s most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on their use as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications pending an independent review of the products’ effects on birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife. “It is clear that these chemicals have the potential to affect entire food chains. The environmental persistence of the neonicotinoids, their propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their cumulative and largely irreversible mode of action in invertebrates raise significant environmental concerns,” said Cynthia Palmer, co-author of the report and Pesticides Program Manager for ABC, one of the nation’s leading bird conservation organizations. ABC commissioned world renowned environmental toxicologist Dr. Pierre Mineau to conduct the research. The 100-page report (attached), “The Impact of the Nation’s Most Widely Used Insecticides on Birds,” reviews 200 studies on neonicotinoids including industry research obtained through the US Freedom of Information Act. The report evaluates the toxicological risk to birds and aquatic systems and includes extensive comparisons with the older pesticides that the neonicotinoids have replaced. The assessment concludes that the neonicotinoids are lethal to birds and to the aquatic systems on which they depend.

Wild bees, butterflies, flies, beetles and other wild insects play a key role in pollination and hence in food production, a new study of 41 crops in 600 fields across the world shows. Till now, the general perception was that honey-bees - that is, domesticated bees - are the only crucial pollinator that is suffering a decline. But this study published in the scientific journal Science upturns current wisdom. The study found that wild pollinators were twice as effective as honeybees in pollinating crops like oilseed rape, coffee, onions, almonds, tomatoes and strawberries. "We found that in landscapes with lower diversity and lower abundance of wild insects, the crops set less seeds and less fruit," said Lucas Garibaldi of the National University in Rio Negro, Argentina, who led the 46-member scientific team. "We know wild insects are declining so we need to start focusing on them. Without such changes, the ongoing loss is destined to compromise agricultural yields worldwide."

Farmers often use hives full of honeybees to help pollinate crops. A new study published in Science has found that encouraging wild pollinators could be more effective. The decline of wild bees and other pollinators may be an even more alarming threat to crop yields than the loss of honeybees, the study suggests, revealing the irreplaceable contribution of wild insects to global food production. Scientists studied the pollination of more than 40 crops in 600 fields across every populated continent and found wild pollinators were twice as effective as honeybees in producing seeds and fruit on crops including oilseed rape, coffee, onions, almonds, tomatoes and strawberries. Furthermore, trucking in managed honeybee hives did not replace wild pollination when that was lost, but only added to the pollination that took place. "It was astonishing; the result was so consistent and clear," said Lucas Garibaldi, at the National University in Río Negro, Argentina, who led the 46-strong scientific team. "We know wild insects are declining so we need to start focusing on them. Without such changes, the ongoing loss is destined to compromise agricultural yields worldwide."

Concerned with the dramatic decline of 17 species of birds that nest in Connecticut and eat only insects caught while flying, Connecticut Audubon Society today called for a multi-agency program of research and assessment along with immediate remedies such as cuts in pesticide use and the creation of man-made nesting sites. The recommendations and action plan are contained in the Connecticut State of the Birds 2013 report, “The Seventh Habitat and the Decline of Our Aerial Insectivores.” Released annually since 2006 by Connecticut Audubon Society, Connecticut State of the Birds has become the leading research-based assessment of conservation conditions in the state. The 17 species – known as aerial insectivores because they eat bugs on the wing – include beautiful and well-known birds such as Barn Swallows, Whip-poor-wills, Common Nighthawks, Chimney Swifts, Purple Martins and Tree Swallows. They are suffering from a long-term population decline that, if unchecked, threatens their survival. The report also contains an article about a similar decline in Connecticut’s bat population, which is also entirely reliant on aerial insects.

Moths are vanishing from our skies at night, declining in southern Britain by 40% over 40 years, a major new report published on Friday reveals. Three species have become extinct this century already, following the permanent loss of 62 species in the twentieth century. The calamitous and largely hidden effect of human activities on these crucial insect populations has been exposed by light traps set in more than 525 sites across the country, which captured nine million moths between 1968 and 2007. Two-thirds of common and widespread larger moths have declined over this 40-year period, with the Orange Upperwing, Bordered Gothic and Brighton Wainscot all becoming extinct in the last 10 years. Moths are key indicator species for assessing the health of the environment. These findings point strongly to a wider insect biodiversity crisis and mirror declines of butterflies and bees and carabid beetles. The declines could have a knock-on effect for plant pollination and animals reliant on moths for food, such as garden and woodland birds, bats and small mammals. Butterfly Conservation Surveys Manager and lead author of the new report, Richard Fox said: "This report paints a bleak picture about Britain's biodiversity. Much has been made of the decline of butterflies and honeybees but moths represent the massive, but largely un-noticed diversity of insects that form the vast majority of animal life in Britain.

Nötig seien zumindest zehn Prozent der landwirtschaftlich genutzten Flächen und der Naturräume für die Artenvielfalt, forderten der stellvertretende Nabu-Landeschef Rainer Hanke und die Thüringer Imkerverbände am Dienstag (12.02.2013) in Weimar. Vor allem Umweltgifte und Pflanzenschutzmittel dezimierten die wichtigen Insekten, erklärte Hanke. Dies habe gravierende Auswirkungen auf das gesamte Ökosystem. So gehe die Zahl der bestäubten Blütenpflanzen seit Jahrzehnten zurück. "Die Insekten bilden die Grundlage der Nahrungsmittelpyramide", betonte Mike Wünscher vom Landesverband der Buckfastimker Thüringen und Sachsen-Anhalt. Inzwischen sei es normal, wenn 10 bis 20 Prozent einer Bienenpopulation den Winter nicht überlebten. Vor 30 Jahren hätte die Sterblichkeit noch bei unter 2 Prozent gelegen, fügte er hinzu. Unterstützung bekamen die Bienenfreunde von der Grünen-Fraktion und der Linkspartei im Landtag. Laut einer EU-Richtlinie müssen derzeit sieben Prozent der landwirtschaftlichen Betriebsflächen für die sogenannte Biodiversität (Artenreichtum, biologische Vielfalt) reserviert werden. Nach Angaben der Thüringer Imkerverbände werden in Thüringen etwa 18.700 Bienenvölker von rund 2350 Imkern betreut. Damit kommt nur etwa ein Volk auf jeden Quadratkilometer des Freistaats. Für eine angemessene Bestäubung werde aber eine vierfache Population benötigt.