When a scientist who studies the essential role insects play in the health of the ecosystem calls a new study on the dramatic decline of bug populations around the world “one of the most disturbing articles” he’s ever read, it’s time for the world to pay attention.
The article in question is a report published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showing that in addition to annihilating hundreds of mammal species, the human-caused climate crisis has also sparked a global “bugpocalypse” that will only continue to accelerate in the absence of systemic action to curb planetary warming.
“This study in PNAS is a real wake-up call—a clarion call—that the phenomenon could be much, much bigger, and across many more ecosystems,” David Wagner, an invertebrate conservation expert at the University of Connecticut, said in response to the new report. “This is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read.”
Authored by Bradford Lister of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Andres Garcia of National Autonomous University of Mexico, the study found that “[a]rthropods, invertebrates including insects that have external skeletons, are declining at an alarming rate.”
“We compared arthropod biomass in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest with data taken during the 1970s and found that biomass had fallen 10 to 60 times,” the researchers write. “Our analyses revealed synchronous declines in the lizards, frogs, and birds that eat arthropods. Over the past 30 years, forest temperatures have risen 2.0 °C, and our study indicates that climate warming is the driving force behind the collapse of the forest’s food web. If supported by further research, the impact of climate change on tropical ecosystems may be much greater than currently anticipated.”
As the climate crisis intensifies, Lister and Garcia continued, “the frequency and intensity of hurricanes in Puerto Rico are expected to increase, along with the severity of droughts and an additional 2.6–7 °C temperature increase by 2099, conditions that collectively may exceed the resilience of the rainforest ecosystem.”
A truly scary new study finds that insect populations in protected Puerto Rican rainforests have fallen as much as 60-fold. https://t.co/NXMIKMCD3p
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) October 15, 2018
The latest disturbing evidence of the destruction the climate crisis is inflicting across the globe comes just a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the world must cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 in order to avert global catastrophe as soon as 2040.
“Unfortunately, we have deaf ears in Washington,” concluded Louisiana State University entomologist Timothy Schowalter, who has studied the Luquillo rainforest for decades.
Originally published by CommonDreams
I have lived in central Massachusetts, USA for around thirty years. I could name the many creatures and plants in my neighborhood that have disappeared over that span with the brunt of major losses being fairly recent. I don’t want to do so because my list is large and the impacts are large (i.e., moths out of control eating my plants as larvae due to lack of birds). … If I were to list all of the species, I may start crying. I DO know the many kinds that I have lost and it grieves me.
Instead let’s look at:.
A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major … – Hooper – Cited by 1098
… of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across … – Handa – Cited by 239
… : a few winners replacing many losers in the next mass … – McKinney – Cited by 1749
BioMap2 Summary Report – Mass.gov
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/nhesp/land-protection…/biomap2-summary-report.pdf
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MassWildlife’s Biodiversity Initiative (BDI) | Mass.gov
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/masswildlifes-biodiversity-initiative-bdi
The Biodiversity Initiative (BDI) supports active habitat management projects that … the BDI focuses on habitats that have suffered from either direct losses from …
Biodiversity Generation and Loss – Oxford Research Encyclopedia of …
environmentalscience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/…/acrefore-9780199389414-e-96
In the modern era, biodiversity appears to be undergoing another mass … The primary mechanisms of biodiversity loss caused by humans vary over time and by …
Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions — Global Issues
http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions
The loss of biodiversity is increasing. There … Industrialized fishing has contributed importantly to mass extinction due to repeatedly failed attempts at limiting the …
Dwindling fish stocks ·
Declining Ocean Biodiversity ·
Loss of forests equates to a …
What is biodiversity and why does it matter to us? | News | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/news/…/what-is-biodiversity-and-why-does-it-matter-to-us
Mar 12, 2018 – But some scientists believe a sixth mass extinction has now begun. … But what all researchers agree is that current biodiversity losses mean we …
2. Why is biodiversity loss a concern? – GreenFacts
https://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/l-3/2-biodiversity-synthesis-report.htm
The MA findings support, with high certainty, that biodiversity loss and deteriorating ecosystem services contribute—directly or indirectly—to worsening health, …
Vertebrate biodiversity losses point to a sixth mass extinction …
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-015-0940-6
by ML McCallum – 2015 –
Cited by 39 –
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May 27, 2015 – So, we still must ask how current losses of species compare to losses in mass extinctions from the geological past. The most recent and best …
The Battle for the Soul of Biodiversity – Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-battle-for-the-soul-of-biodiversity/
Aug 22, 2018 – The biodiversity panel has been tasked to focus on the epic … resulting loss of animal and plant species is leading towards a mass extinction.
Loss of Biodiversity Dimensions through Shifting Climates and Ancient …
https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icb/icy111/5094676
by SM Edie –
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Sep 10, 2018 – These dynamics of biodiversity loss contrast with the two mass extinctions bracketing the Mesozoic Era, which had negligible effects on the …