this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
174 points (97.8% liked)
Asklemmy
43892 readers
898 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Bugs hitting the front windshield in extraordinary numbers.
This is a sad one once you notice it. The outdoors feel emptier
what happened to the bugs?
It's two things, one personal vehicles are designed to bend air around them rather than slice through or just brute force through air resistance. This means that more bugs are pushed out of the way with newer vehicles now, compared to older vehicles which just had the bug hit the windshield. The second and much more impactful reason is because the insect population has dropped significantly in the last 25 years.
Why has that happened?
Pesticides
Climate change
Less flowers
Pesticides
Accelerating climate change and an increase in consumer car culture (more cars on road to kill bugs = less bugs)
fluid dynamics simulated on computers helped air-bending, that's cool. i knew about the bees disappearing, but bugs in general too?
Unfortunately yes. This story by NPR isn't an academic source but it's definitely worth listening to. On average bug populations have declined by 2% a year for decades or more in some areas, less in others. It's an average.
Now truthfully, whether or not a declining bug population is the main cause of fewer bugs on our windshields or if it's better aerodynamics I don't know. What I do know is a more aerodynamic vehicle isn't something I need to worry about, a declining bug population is.
we need our bugs! although I was never convinced in that all insectizoid parasites are necessary, like any that affect Me, or Me-Kind
Bees are just cute. Its insects in general, and all are important. I mean insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are there for a reason.
Our soil is completely dead often, without animals, fungi and herbs. And so is the ecosystem
We managed to kill off a third of the entire bug population during the last 25 years or so.
Huh, I think they all flew to Mexico, I did a road trip from Mexico to Austin TX recently and I do recall having not many bugs in my windshield in the USA... But back home to Mexico they all started to appear LMAO.
More of a the natural habitat of insects are still thriving in Mexico and the habitat being wiped elsewhere.
Fireflies/Lightning bugs. I remember there were so many in backyards in the summer, even in the suburbs.
Then they just kinda went away. Feel like I'm lucky if I even see a few a year.
I just drove through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas and confirmed there are still enough bugs out there to make you use a squeegee when you fill up for gas. But I remember when I was younger having to stop just to clean the windshield or else you wouldn't be able to see.
Car design change? I'd assume that more aerodynamic cars airflow that sweeps more bugs away rather than smacking them into the glass. I can assure you that they still hit motorcycle visors.
I mean, I see way less bugs when outside even a decade ago.