Green Group discussion

From the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/scienc...

The first three paragraphs:

Insects around the world are in a crisis, according to a small but growing number of long-term studies showing dramatic declines in invertebrate populations. A new report suggests that the problem is more widespread than scientists realized. Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico, the study found, and the forest’s insect-eating animals have gone missing, too.

In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves.

The latest report, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that this startling loss of insect abundance extends to the Americas. The study’s authors implicate climate change in the loss of tropical invertebrates.

The disappearance of bugs we can easily see parallels the disappearance of large mammals. If you are big you are in trouble. For the insect world, 12 inches is gigantic, around a few inches is huge, around an inch is big. What we can't see is probably surviving the same way the tiny mammals survived in a world filled with dinosaurs.

I think those empty spaces where bigger bugs used to be are being used by smaller creatures, not microscopic but some are, and not all of them insects. It seems to be based on size and living in unprotected environments where the insects have no place to hide. Their disappearance could also be affected by indiscriminate use of pesticides on insects we don't like.

Species like the ants that are well organized, able to defend themselves, and nest in sheltered places aren't disappearing but are spreading around the world.