Where have all the insects gone?

A new study in the peer reviewed Biological Conservation journal says that 40% of the world's insect population is in danger of extinction in the next few decades. The terran ecosystem, and human life, can not live without bugs, folks.

"The repercussions this will have for the planet's ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least, as insects are at the structural and functional base of many of the world's ecosystems," reads an excerpt from the study conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland and the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

By the time humans figure it out, it will of course be too late. All part of god's great plan, I suppose.

David Hawkshurst/Wilson Center

The new Secretary of the Interior is serving his masters and former masters well. Goodbye Delta smelt. David Bernhardt is rolling back protections for the fish. What they don't get, or maybe just don't give a shit about, is that it is not just one small fish.

For the California farmers on whose behalf he once lobbied, Mr. Bernhardt’s actions to weaken environmental protections would free up river water, an asset of incalculable value as climate change propels California toward a hotter, drier future. Rerouting river water would also devastate the regional ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Delta, scientists say, imperiling dozens of other fish up the food chain and affecting water birds, orcas and commercial fisheries and encouraging toxic algal blooms.

It is a bellwether species and its demise tells us that the Sacramento Delta will continue to suffer from toxic algal blooms that threaten many other species including chinook salmon.

Biologists say the protections have many benefits. “This is not just about two boutique species of fish,” said Jonathan Rosenfield, lead scientist at The Bay Institute, a nonprofit research organization in San Francisco, citing the increased risk of algal blooms in the San Francisco Bay Delta. “Those algal blooms create the kind of toxin where, when dogs jump into the water to go swimming, they don’t jump out,” he said.

Call me naive, but I will take the advice of environmental scientists over sleazebag lawyers, corporate farming interests and unethical lobbyists any day of the week.

chinook salmon