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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
[...] Because the crooning of the crickets has quietened in recent years and may be becoming a thing of the past. There is strong evidence that large numbers of crickets and grasshoppers (known, along with mantises, earwigs and cockroaches as the "Orthoptera") are declining across Europe. A 2017 review of European species showed that over 30% of the 1,000 European species were in decline while only 3% were increasing. As with many insects, we simply don't know what is happening to most of the rest.
The problem is that recent work has suggested that all insect species, including Orthoptera, are declining – the so-called "insect Armageddon."
A 2017 study found that the abundance of flying insects has plunged by 75% over the past 25 years. One member of the study team, Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University, said at the time: "Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @03:00PM (6 children)
The problem is that most crickets are omnivores and shouldn't be this sensitive so whatever killing them can't be good.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Friday August 10 2018, @03:03PM (5 children)
It'll start a flame war to say it's climate change, but given the Europe has had the most dramatic climate changes, it's totally 100% climate change.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @03:33PM
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:53PM (3 children)
I doubt climate change is to blame, insects thrive in all sorts of weather and droughts haven't been that widespread.
25 years ago eh? My guess is on the agricultural pesticides being so over used they have spread into all sorts of ecological food chains.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by HiThere on Friday August 10 2018, @10:14PM (1 child)
Pesticide use is important. Large monoculture fields are also important. Many insects can only eat a certain range of foods, or only live in a certain range of habitats. And if it's habitat that's most important, that explains why cockroaches are doing well.
P.S.: Mosquitoes could be a crucial genera to check this on. Only some mosquitoes dine on people. How are the other species of mosquito doing?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 11 2018, @11:00AM
Doubt it. Humans have been working hard to kill off disease-causing mosquitoes for decades. Anything with a similar life cycle is going to be severely impacted.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:39AM
Where I am (not Europe), the springs have been weird, hot, cold and then hot lately. There seems to be a lot less bees and stuff, this year I counted one bumble bee when there used to be 3 or 4 per huckleberry bush. The wild berries haven't been getting pollinated, the bears have been hungry and like many rural dwellers, end up moving into town and get shot. There's no agriculture close by so I doubt that its pesticides.