The Collapse of Insects
reuters.com
reuters.com
Its shown in robust studies that even low-level RF causes oxidative-stress and cell death in insect ovaries. For example, see: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19336934.2016.1...
Excerpt: "Exposure of adult flies to mobile-phone radiation for 30 min has an immediate impact on ROS production in animal's ovary, which seems to cause a global, systemic and non-targeted transcriptional reprogramming of gene expression, 2 h post-exposure, being finally followed by induction of apoptosis 4 h after the end of exposure. Conclusively, this unique type of pulsed radiation, mainly being derived from daily used mobile phones, seems capable of mobilizing critical cytopathic mechanisms, and altering fundamental genetic programs and networks in D. melanogaster."
Also, this recent review paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00489...
Excerpt: "Insects are especially sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. An increasing number of reports indicate that flies and spiders, among other invertebrates, disappear from areas that receive the highest levels of radiation from mobile telephone antennas, and these observations are consistent with numerous laboratory studies showing the negative effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) on reproductive success, development and navigation"
For example, see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26151230/
Excerpt: "...among 100 currently available peer-reviewed studies dealing with oxidative effects of low-intensity RFR, in general, 93 confirmed that RFR induces oxidative effects in biological systems. A wide pathogenic potential of the induced ROS and their involvement in cell signaling pathways explains a range of biological/health effects of low-intensity RFR, which include both cancer and non-cancer pathologies."
and: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8562392/
Excerpt: "Thus, a complete picture is provided of how human-made EMF exposure may indeed lead to DNA damage and related pathologies, including cancer. Moreover, it is suggested that the non-thermal biological effects attributed to RF EMFs are actually due to their ELF components."
Plastics are everywhere also
I live in an European city, where the decline of the insect population is extremely visible.
The most salient is not the reduction in their number, but the reduction in their diversity.
There are a few species that are still somewhat abundant, mainly some true bugs (Hemiptera) and even mosquitoes can still be seen from time to time.
Nevertheless, in the same place a few decades ago hundreds of species were abundant, butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets, lacewings (Neuroptera), wild bees, wasps and many others that I have no longer seen for more than a decade. Also the centipedes, the pill bugs, the snails and the earthworms have disappeared.
The vegetation that attracted all those insects is still around, so I assume that they have disappeared because of insecticides and that the few remaining, i.e. the true bugs (Hemiptera), might be more resistant to them.
I know most people will probably disagree with me, and only care about whatever looks flashy, but if we're handing out awards I hope it's for websites that prioritize accessibility and graceful degradation. Being able to do the fanciest things when browsers allow for it, but still ensuring that you can deliver the information when they don't is a dying art.
From an insect's pov eCO2 changes everything; how nutritions leaves are - also how unpalatable they are², increases in water acidity, changes to their habitat from increased rainfall, and leads to changes in insect physiology³
Jactel et al have an outline Responses of forest insect pests to climate change: not so simple https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221457451... but this is still an area of many unknowns, even less known than the effect of eCO2 on plants - which is deleteriuous across the board.
2 -Johnson et al 2023 eCO2 suppresses silicon accumulation and exacerbates endophyte reductions in plant phosphorus. Article is on eCO2-driven interlinked changes in pasture grasses and how productivity and insects respond to this.
3 - Liu et al 2023 Elevated CO2 leads to thick-skinned thrips by altering trehalose and chitin metabolisms. This would have serious implications for pest control. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-023-01697-3
What we need are affordable laser zappers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser) with an option for an audio alert on each kill.
Mosquito nets work and are cheap and environmentally neutral.
Yes, as evidenced by their usage to eradicate malaria... :-/
Many countries also use nets with insecticides, not "just" nets, so they're not even environmentally neutral. This is because mosquito is and remains key to malaria control. You can't live your life inside a net.
Currently, the countries where malaria is a big problem are poor and suffer from lack of education, literacy etc.
But on the one hand, global warming is pushing the Anopheles mosquito range into richer educated countries. That might result in greater and better use of nets.
On the other hand, the tropical countries' demography is changing and education and so on is improving, overall, so that might help, too.
On the gripping hand, global warming and ecological collapse is driven by the size of the human population and so more infectious disease and more plagues would be good for the planet and therefore good for humanity in general.
(Just not the people who die from it, obvs.)
So it all balances out.
But appropriate technology is more important than the sort of fancy elaborate tech that HN commenters favour, like AIs with frikkin' lasers.