5 December 2018 (University of Leeds) – Harmless flies have evolved over millions of years to mimic the appearance of stinging insects, but new evidence suggests climate change is reducing the effectiveness of that disguise. Many species have adopted a form of the yellow and black banding commonly seen on stinging insects, which predators such […]
By Elena Suglia 10 December 2018 (Scientific American) – Is it possible to starve yourself of nutrients while simultaneously gaining weight? It turns out the answer is yes. According to a growing body of research, rising carbon dioxide levels are making our food less nutritious, robbing key crops of vitamins essential to human development.Studies have […]
By Silvia Foster-Frau 6 December 2018 (San Antonio Express News) – Bulldozers are expected to soon plow through the protected habitat of the National Butterfly Center along the Rio Grande to clear the way for President Trump’s border wall, which got a green light from the Supreme Court this week. [cf. National Butterfly Center issues […]
26 November 2018 (BBC News) – At least one million bees are suspected to have died of poisoning in a wine-producing area of South Africa. Brendan Ashley-Cooper told the BBC that an insecticide used by wine farmers, Fipronil, was thought to have killed the insects on his farm. Other honey bee farmers in the area […]
By Ben Guarino 15 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – 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 […]
By Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and Sandra Maler 3 August 2018 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era ban on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in dozens of national wildlife refuges where farming is permitted. Environmentalists, who had sued to […]
By Seth Borenstein 16 April 2018 (PhysOrg) – Global warming is screwing up nature’s intricately timed dinner hour, often making hungry critters and those on the menu show up at much different times, a new study shows.Timing is everything in nature. Bees have to be around and flowers have to bloom at the same time […]
12 April 2018 (University of Exeter) – Bees could be at risk from climate change because more frequent droughts could cause plants to produce fewer flowers, new research shows. Droughts are expected to become more common and more intense in many parts of the world, and researchers studied the impact on flowering plants using a […]
PORTLAND, Oregon, 1 March 2018 (CBD) – Within the next two years, more than 60 million acres of monarch habitat will be sprayed with an herbicide that’s extremely harmful to milkweed, the only food for monarch caterpillars, according to a new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity.Monarch populations have already fallen by 80 percent […]
By Brandon Keim 14 March 2018 (Anthropocene) – No guild of North American birds is declining so rapidly as aerial insectivores: acrobatic marvels whose maneuvers make our hearts soar, and who provide a vital ecosystem service. Why are their numbers plummeting? A leading explanation is a widespread decline in insect populations — a troubling possibility, […]
