Over the past few years, lots of insects have been disappearing all across the world. There’ve been small warning signs along the way to illustrate this massive reduction of the insect population, but it does not seem like anyone is paying attention. One obvious sign could be that we rarely have to clean off the windshields on our cars anymore.
Twenty years ago, the windshields of cars would be covered in splattered bugs, just because there were so many out on the roads. However, now that hardly ever happens.
People who do not think deeply about the situation may be relieved that they no longer need to deal with the small inconvenience of cleaning their windshields, but insects are a vital part of the earth’s ecosystem.
Another example of the bug decline is the disappearance of fireflies, the luminescent insects which once lit up the night sky with beads of colorful light.
Two decades ago, this sight was very common, even in urban areas, but nowadays you are lucky to find a place where those magical insects still light up the sky. It is rare even to spot them anymore, and environmental watch groups all over the world are warning that they are nearly extinct.
Mike Lewinski from Tres Piedras, NM, United States (Wikimedia Commons
Earlier in 2019, The Center for Biological Diversity and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation filed an emergency petition seeking Endangered Species Act protections for the Bethany Beach firefly of Delaware.
As Truth Theory reports, Candace Fallon, a senior conservation biologist at the Xerces Society that helped issue the petition, explains that fireflies in the Delaware beach area are in severe danger of extinction.
Other areas throughout the USA are experiencing a similar decline in firefly populations.
Andrew Wetzler, the managing director of the Nature Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that fireflies are disappearing throughout the midwest too.
Pixabay
This problem isn’t limited to the United States either, firefly species all across the world are in decline. According to recent reports, the same thing has been happening in Malaysia and other areas of Asia.
Scientists estimate there are 2,000 different species of firefly currently facing extinction.
Much of that decline has been attributed to pollution and pesticide use.
Fireflies in coastal Georgia, US – Jud McCranie (Wikimedia Commons)
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