> A scary finding regarding locusts was recently published -- Nutrient
> dilution and climate cycles underlie declines in a dominant insect
> herbivore.
> Unfortunately still paywalled.
It's good to have friends in low places - full-text pdf below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zBQMXCw2ZrGZgS-8Tr89hHvHeKiL3JR_
https://tinyurl.com/y7ro6qy5
Need to slog through this when I have more time, but here's what jumped off
the page at me on a quick skim:
"Nitrogen declined 42% from 1985 to 2016, P declined 58%, K declined 54%,
and Na declined 90%."
"The 2%/y decline in grasshopper abundance is a rate shared with four
studies of another insect herbivore, butterflies..."
"...grasshopper abundances decreased with reduced foliage tissue
concentrations of N, P, K, and Na, even as the total quantity of the
vegetation increased by 60%. In short, even as the prairie became
'greener,' the amount of nutrients per mouthful of plant tissue yielded
fewer nutrients. Such declines are expected to continue, with rising CO2 and
climate change models predicting increasing temperatures and growing season
precipitation for the Midwestern United States"
I'm not sure how this applies to pollen and nectar for bees, but if I was
herding grazing animals, I'd be... concerned.
There was a horribly bad late 1960s "straight-to-the-drive-in" apocalyptic
future film called "No Blade of Grass" that addressed the end-stage of
something like this, but they fantasized a virus that killed all grasses
outright, somehow spawned by pollution. Exactly what you'd think would
happen given a large number of solid, calm, thoughtful people with shotguns
and hunting rifles in the face of a rapidly decreasing food supply.
But humans can change behaviors.
Even Kathmandu, Nepal (population now 1 million or so) has had a serious air
pollution problem for quite some time, one that was temporarily "fixed" by a
stay-home order due to the virus that Aaron steadfastly refuses to add to
the name of the listserv. With less traffic (normally, lots of very
worn-out 2-cycle engines burning more oil than gas in the 3-wheeled
"Tuk-Tuk" golf cart style taxis one finds all over Asia) one can temporarily
see Mt. Everest from the city center. This is very comforting, as there are
a large number of people in Nepal who call the mountain "Chomolungma" (the
Mother of Gods), and venerate it much as a western person might venerate a
Saint of the Catholic church.
https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-
improved/
https://tinyurl.com/ybgsduzc
So, when people are scared enough, they can change their habits, and see the
results.
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|