ren
Aurelian
Natural History Fan
Posts: 100
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Post by ren on Oct 19, 2018 16:29:46 GMT
I have read from several sources that populations of flying insects are dropping rapidly.
What, in your opinion, is driving this?
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777
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 97
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by 777 on Oct 19, 2018 17:56:01 GMT
Personally, I’m not extremely worried about it because there are animals out there that are vital to human survival, such as honeybees. When they die out, we die out, and if there are no humans left, nature and evolution will start anew. There were mass extinctions back then that nearly wiped out all life. Resilient animals survived and conquered those extinctions and evolved and branched off into more beautiful creatures. There is a mass extinction going on right now, but fortunately, there are animals that are already rapidly evolving to survive humans’ stupid ways. Even though it’s sad to see these beautiful creatures die off, it’s quite reassuring to know that nature will get back on its feet someday. Make the most out of this time period and enjoy nature while you can.
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Post by nomad on Oct 19, 2018 18:13:01 GMT
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Post by luehdorfia on Oct 20, 2018 10:33:32 GMT
Just last month there was a new book published by the director of the state museum Munich, Josef H. Reichholf which has the biggest butterfly collection in the world. His book is in German but the title in English is: butterflies - why they are disappearing and what we can do against it.
I already read the whole book and he has very interesting new insights.
The main factor and almost only factor is just farming and agriculture, and exactly not urbanisation!
He did long term studies inside of Munich. He is a professor for ecology and city planning. His long term studies were about the number and variety of species within the city of Munich. And it is extremely surprising, the number of species and quantity inside the city has not declined and is relatively high, surprisingly high! A city with small parks big parks, gardens and structures like roads, rivers, railway etc has so many different ecological habitats such a good variety of small habitats that many animals and many butterflies can survive there. But everywhere outside of cities numbers of butterflies decreased extremely! In the 1980s In Germany they made huge fields, not the small fields with a patch work of different plants but just huge maize fields, with zero species of butterflies. Then of course chemical spraying and everything is dead. Additionally most nature reserves are so close to these huge maize plantations that chemical spraying is transported into nature reserves.
In Germany they are discussing new laws against the spread of urbanisation in order to preserve species. But this professor said that’s the worst that can happen. He says every maize field every farm that is turned into a suburb is a huge win for animals! In Germany they are now considering to prohibit further spread into the countryside, and instead “dense” the cities, which means building more houses into the already existing cities, which means destroying parks and gardens which are vital for many species. So in the end and again as always what you get when libtards vote, is a further decline of species and further destroying of the environment. This author is a professor in ecology and biology, the expert for the field, but of course liberal politicians who scream “evil urbanisation” they are heard.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 20, 2018 16:39:03 GMT
The main issue seems indeed to be agriculture driven : - NOW VERY EFFICIENT chemical products sprayed everywhere, - destruction of habitat reducing insect diversity. Of course urbanization won't kill butterflies like Pieris rapae, but it will decrease the number of plants and thus of butterfly species. You find more butterfly species in Fontainebleau forest than in Fontainebleau city. In Europe, the last good areas are mountains where there is no intensive agriculture. Southern countries where agriculture is not too intensive are still very good too (Greece, Corsica...) Very large forests like Fontainebleau are good too, but forests are more and more artificial and intensive wood culture too.
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777
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 97
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by 777 on Oct 20, 2018 16:42:43 GMT
Just last month there was a new book published by the director of the state museum Munich, Josef H. Reichholf which has the biggest butterfly collection in the world. His book is in German but the title in English is: butterflies - why they are disappearing and what we can do against it. I already read the whole book and he has very interesting new insights. The main factor and almost only factor is just farming and agriculture, and exactly not urbanisation! He did long term studies inside of Munich. He is a professor for ecology and city planning. His long term studies were about the number and variety of species within the city of Munich. And it is extremely surprising, the number of species and quantity inside the city has not declined and is relatively high, surprisingly high! A city with small parks big parks, gardens and structures like roads, rivers, railway etc has so many different ecological habitats such a good variety of small habitats that many animals and many butterflies can survive there. But everywhere outside of cities numbers of butterflies decreased extremely! In the 1980s In Germany they made huge fields, not the small fields with a patch work of different plants but just huge maize fields, with zero species of butterflies. Then of course chemical spraying and everything is dead. Additionally most nature reserves are so close to these huge maize plantations that chemical spraying is transported into nature reserves. In Germany they are discussing new laws against the spread of urbanisation in order to preserve species. But this professor said that’s the worst that can happen. He says every maize field every farm that is turned into a suburb is a huge win for animals! In Germany they are now considering to prohibit further spread into the countryside, and instead “dense” the cities, which means building more houses into the already existing cities, which means destroying parks and gardens which are vital for many species. So in the end and again as always what you get when libtards vote, is a further decline of species and further destroying of the environment. This author is a professor in ecology and biology, the expert for the field, but of course liberal politicians who scream “evil urbanisation” they are heard. Thank you for the new insight on urbanization. I didn’t know that manmade structures provided habitats for Many species.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 20, 2018 16:48:35 GMT
It doesn't ! But it is not as bad as intensive agriculture crops...
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Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 20, 2018 16:58:54 GMT
It definitely can do, Lumpini Park in the middle of Bangkok is home to a lot of wildlife found nowhere else nearby in Thailand, including monitor lizards and other wildlife as well as butterflies such as Graphium antiphates (although this is not a generally rare species it is rare in Bangkok).
Adam.
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777
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 97
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by 777 on Oct 20, 2018 17:03:46 GMT
I’m sure it can provide habitats because when you think about it, there are lots of abandoned or unattended manmade structures that can easily be used as shelter by animals and plants. If you leave a sidewalk alone for a while it will be overgrown with grass and other plants. There is also a lot of leftover food and garbage that animals can eat, too. There are already coyotes and raccoons that are rapidly evolving to digest garbage!
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Post by nomad on Oct 20, 2018 18:39:40 GMT
In Britain, no rare species of butterflies are found in any of the centers of big cities, a few common ones and that's it, no woodland butterflies are going to fly in a concrete jungle.. and for that matter few butterflies inhabit large areas of our cultivated crops. Where possible new urban centers should have at the very least have green wildlife corridors. My home town is bigger than some of our cities but we don't have a cathedral . An urban cemetery in the center of our town is surrounded by houses and it has a few grassland butterflies that turn up when the council do not keep mowing the grass and certainly breed there such as Polyommatus icarus and Lycaena phlaeas. So this does prove that even small urban green spaces are important for many insects and some species thrive there. However, in reality its just a refuge for other species as urbanization has covered their habitat and will continue too, until there is little left.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 21, 2018 13:46:46 GMT
Just last month there was a new book published by the director of the state museum Munich, Josef H. Reichholf which has the biggest butterfly collection in the world. His book is in German but the title in English is: butterflies - why they are disappearing and what we can do against it. I already read the whole book and he has very interesting new insights. The main factor and almost only factor is just farming and agriculture, and exactly not urbanisation! He did long term studies inside of Munich. He is a professor for ecology and city planning. His long term studies were about the number and variety of species within the city of Munich. And it is extremely surprising, the number of species and quantity inside the city has not declined and is relatively high, surprisingly high! A city with small parks big parks, gardens and structures like roads, rivers, railway etc has so many different ecological habitats such a good variety of small habitats that many animals and many butterflies can survive there. But everywhere outside of cities numbers of butterflies decreased extremely! In the 1980s In Germany they made huge fields, not the small fields with a patch work of different plants but just huge maize fields, with zero species of butterflies. Then of course chemical spraying and everything is dead. Additionally most nature reserves are so close to these huge maize plantations that chemical spraying is transported into nature reserves. In Germany they are discussing new laws against the spread of urbanisation in order to preserve species. But this professor said that’s the worst that can happen. He says every maize field every farm that is turned into a suburb is a huge win for animals! In Germany they are now considering to prohibit further spread into the countryside, and instead “dense” the cities, which means building more houses into the already existing cities, which means destroying parks and gardens which are vital for many species. So in the end and again as always what you get when libtards vote, is a further decline of species and further destroying of the environment. This author is a professor in ecology and biology, the expert for the field, but of course liberal politicians who scream “evil urbanisation” they are heard. Rubbish. Nature turned into urban or agriculture destroys nature. Some species like pigeons may thrive in cities but that is no replacement for other formerly native wildlife. In my area I can list off dozens of Leps that no longer occur in urban settings. Backyard gardens that attract monarchs and common nymphalids do not equal the ecological spectrum lost.
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Post by luehdorfia on Oct 22, 2018 4:50:36 GMT
To clarify it a bit more. This book is about Germany. In Germany there is hardly any nature left. And of course urbanisation is not turning some of the last nature reserves into suburbs, it is about turning agricultural land into suburbs, and here the professor is definitely right. Anything is better than a 100 square mile corn field that is completely flooded with fertilisers and chemicals. That’s the only thing this professor find out. Definitely it would be stupid to say that urbanisation is good, if you destroy real natural habitats. exoticimports but I guess you haven’t been to Germany before. It is radically different than the US, our “nature reserves” are extremely extremely tiny, sometimes just 100metres to 50metres, sourrounded by corn fields, our whole country is destroyed by cities and agriculture, and here it is definitely right to say that we rather have gardens and suburbs than another corn field.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 22, 2018 10:30:52 GMT
Yes, honey bees also thrive in cities while suffer a lot near intensive crops. There's nothing worst than a monoculture field full of pesticides for insects.
Sad that Germany has destroyed so much its nature... but it is the country of Bayer group...
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777
Junior Aurelian
Posts: 97
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by 777 on Oct 22, 2018 13:24:05 GMT
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Post by Paul K on Oct 22, 2018 13:43:50 GMT
National Geografic with their accurate data. “At least $400,000 coyoties killed annually in USA” That is over 1000 individuals killed every day. I have hard time to believe in this number.
Paul
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