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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: 3, Interesting) by Weasley on Friday August 10 2018, @03:02PM (10 children)
Honey bees? Wasn't it just a few years ago we were all shitting our pants because of Colony Collapse Disorder
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Friday August 10 2018, @03:06PM (1 child)
CCD continues only slightly abated, and honey bee populations have not recovered, but "africanized honeybees" do not do the useful things honeybees do. Nor have they been affected by CCD.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @03:41PM
Mostly this is because africanized honeybees haven't been bred to be dirty, lazy, honey-producers. Africanized bees have strong grooming and cleanliness, which prevents mites from affecting the health of the hive. They are also not shipped all around to agricultural hotspots that are covered in pesticides, or kept in hives that are constantly disrupted due to inspections (and most commercial hives are not designed to help the bees keep a clean hive or stable internal temperature). They are still useful as pollinators, but not as much for european-style beekeeping.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday August 10 2018, @03:07PM (7 children)
did you read the killer part?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:45PM
They are innocent until they sting someone (and the person dies). Of course, they die after they sting someone so there's not much more we can do to them.
(Score: 2) by Weasley on Friday August 10 2018, @08:53PM (5 children)
I did. You are aware that killer bees still pollinate right? They're not supernatural killer insects that don't eat anything but humans.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Friday August 10 2018, @10:08PM
Still a better movie than The Meg
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:41AM
I'd guess they only pollinate when its warm. Whats missing where I am are the bumble bees, which do pollinate when its cold.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Saturday August 11 2018, @11:45AM (2 children)
GP:
Then you said:
Two different bees.
(Score: 2) by Weasley on Saturday August 11 2018, @02:32PM (1 child)
Africanized honeybees are still honeybees. The missing piece of information was the AC explaining that Africanized hybrids possess a stronger grooming instinct which makes them largely unaffected by CCD.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Saturday August 11 2018, @02:42PM
That appears to be the case:
https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/africa/african-honey-bees-conversation/index.html [cnn.com]
https://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/killer-bees-could-help-solve-honeybee-colony-collapse [hcn.org]
https://www.rootsimple.com/2013/10/africanized-bees/ [rootsimple.com]