Insects have been around for more than 400m years, their ancestors crawling from the oceans to colonise the land long before dinosaurs appeared. They have been enormously successful, evolving into a staggering diversity of more than 1m known species, with perhaps as many as another 4m yet to be described by science. There are more […]
Tag: pollinators
The potential of nature: Halting wildlife decline will also protect 750,000 jobs, says MP
Crawley MP Henry Smith, a member of the Conservative Environment Network, said the Environment Bill going through Parliament does not set a legal deadline for halting wildlife declines. He also pointed out the natural environment supports nearly 750,000 jobs and more than £27 billion of the country’s economic output. Mr Smith said strong action is […]
Did You Know Flowers Can Hear Bees Buzzing?
A scientist is researching to prove that plants can hear their surroundings. Preliminary evidence of research by Lilach Hadany found that flowers respond to the sound of bees wings by increasing sugar quantity in nectar. Hadany, who teaches at the cross of mathematics and biology at the University of Tel Aviv, reasons that since pollinators […]
Petition: Western Monarch Butterflies Near Extinction With Less than 2000 Reported in this Year’s Thanksgiving Count
The state of our planet’s pollinators took a big blow in 2020. The annual Thanksgiving count of Western Monarch butterflies this year by the Xerces Society yielded less than 2000 individuals, a tragic threshold that has experts worried about the future of the species. In the 1980s, as many as 3 to 10 million Monarch […]
Two pesticides approved for use in US harmful to bees
A previously banned insecticide, which was approved for agricultural use last year in the United States, is harmful for bees and other beneficial insects that are crucial for agriculture, and a second pesticide in widespread use also harms these insects. That is according to a new analysis from researchers at The University of Texas at […]
A taste of honey: how bees mend fences between farmers and elephants
Watchtowers in trees, tripwire alarms, radio collars, chilli smoke and beehive fences: scientists and conservationists across Asia and Africa are coming up with safe and humane ways to keep elephants at bay and reduce conflict with humans. In early June, the agonising death of a pregnant wild elephant that ate an explosives-filled pineapple in India […]
Alarm as pesticides spur rapid decline of US bird species
Popular pesticides are causing bird species to decline at an alarming rate in the US, adding fuel to a 50-year downward trend in bird biodiversity, a new report has found. In addition to spray-on pesticides, farmers are widely using chemicals that coat seeds. These pesticides, called neonicotinoids or neonics, deter insects as the seeds sprout […]
Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’
The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. […]