Ya .. I didn't have time to talk about it but the hills outside is quito are being cleared out for urban expansion and it makes me sad to think about all the forest that used to be there ...
I've been concerned about shifting baselines too. Last year we noticed our Violet Green Swallows were struggling to catch insects to feed their nestlings. These are birds that have returned annually for several years now. It was heartbreaking to watch and they abandoned the nest. We found two deceased young fledglings afterwards. Something needs to change or we are going to have so many regrets. Most people just aren't aware. Thank you for making this video! Awesome job.
@@SciBugs People are starting to pay attention but we are too late. We are beyond the point of no return. We can try doing small things like planting native plants and similar things but its the politicians which actually hold the power to change this dissaster. But they wont cuz saving animals doesn't make money :/
I've been a professional gardener in the UK for the last 15 years and my two main observations over that time would be that there's less bugs around every year and that the weather/seasons are getting really hard to predict. I can see how these things would go largely unnoticed by people who aren't reliant on predictable weather and don't spend a large amount of the time with their head in the scenery, neither are extreme enough to be obvious (yet) but you do notice if you look for it. I can count the amount of wasps I've seen this year on one hand, normally they're a constant source of irritation at this time of year particularly where the apples are dropping but this year I've noticed the stark absence of their bothersome presence. Frightening times
They either all died already or learned to avoid vehicles. In the 80's your car got covered if you drove at night. Now I find almost no bugs on my truck, ever.
They are dieing. Pesticides, habitat loss, light and air pollution, climate change, city wide asphalt jungles with no access to water and more is killing them off. Insects now sadly aren't smarter than they were back then and neither are we as a species :/
@ohnothepossum I live extremely rural and they're all gone here too. I don't doubt the reasons you gave but it seems something else is killing them too.
@@PorkChopAChunky I live very rural as well, but i personally think the effects of climate change and co have just gotten too bad for animals already as to affect them even in the areas where one would think that they should still thrive. Edit: But i don't doubt that there is for sure some stuff affecting them that we aren't that aware about
@@ohnothepossum PESTDICIDES! everything you mentioned is 100% true also but i think its really the pesticides that are screwing them over bad, especially in rural areas where the farms are, urban environments are terrible places for insects but a minuscule portion of land area is actually urban environment. Habitat loss makes em much more vulnerable to pesticides too
I have been looking for anyone that has also noticed how serious the insect decline has been. I'm in the uk and have noticed not just a lack of insects but have also noticed a change in texture and flavour of some fruit. Getting pretty worried here tbh x
22:50 Interesting point about the native tree species. Makes me wonder if the pine, spruce, and fir beetles invading BC's forests are in part taking advantage of the fact that the majority of our forests were replanted in the past 100 years which altered the balance of native species.
You've outdone yourself with this one, Nancy. This was not only fascinating to watch, but important. Insects (and invertebrates in general) are such an important part of the world we live in that we can't afford NOT to pay attention to what's happening with them. I really appreciate how you looked at the studies and also critiqued their methods, not to trash them but rather to identify the kinds of future studies we need. I also loved how you brought up the role that amateurs can play in this. Absolutely knocked it out of the park. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much for watching and all your kind words! I really appreciate you taking the time to write such thoughtful things. She was a beast to get through especially with all the research and crafting a story around seemingly mismatched findings. Thanks for coming along the journey with me =)
@@SciBugs yup, I know what kind of work goes into 40+ -minute videos with this level of research. It's a lot of effort, but your final result here was great.
I think just about anyone who has lived long enough and done a lot of hiking out in the wilderness has noticed that animals as a whole are becoming rarer out there. It is most noticeable with the small creatures since they are the most common. Where I live in the desert stink bugs, carpenter ants, western fence lizards, blue tailed skinks, velvet ants, tarantula hawks, jack rabbits, and squirrels were all incredibly common during my childhood. They were the ubiquitous sorts of animals you saw at least once but usually multiple times on a single short walk. Now it is such a rarity to see these same creatures that most of them its been so long I can't even remember the last time clearly. I used to see a half dozen to a dozen stink bugs on a single summer walk and it's now been close to half a decade since I last saw one. The tarantula hawks and velvet ants were rarer but I would see at least a dozen over the course of a year, now I can't even remember the last time I saw one. These were once very common creatures. The last time I saw an actual jack rabbit was about a year ago and it was a momentous occasion because it was the first in about half a decade. I used to see squirrels on about half my walks, now it's like once a year. The lizards which I would see at least one or two per walk are now I once a season occurrence. What happened to them all? This is a protected area I am talking about which has no development on it.
When i was a kid i often stayed up at night with a light on outside to see which insects would come by. There were all matter of moths, bugs and more. So many insects and also bats! If i do this now all i get are tons of mosquitoes and a couple small moths... There still are insects but they are dissapearing. It's horrible, the planet needs them!
Back in the 1980's & 90's, our car's summertime windshield & grill would be covered in bug carcasses. Gross & sad, but it's more sad that nowadays there are not enough bugs flying around to make that mess.
I barely remember that as a kid. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and I remember bugs hitting the windshield ... and by time I was a teenager and driving - the problem was almost non existent even in the rural area where I grew up.
Fantastic video, thank you! I read several books by Dave Goulson, "Silent Earth" deals with similar issues. In Berlin many median strips are only being mowed once a year now which has made a huge difference, there are so many insects there now. In the beautiful town in Southern Germany where my family lives, surrounded by vineyards there are very few insects, mostly honey bees, almost no bumble bees. People there have trimmed short lawns and a lot of pesticides are used around the vineyards. I will be keeping an eye on the insects there to see what is going on.
Here in England in late July and l can tell you there are practically no insects this year. No Bumble bees, wasps, horse flies, butterflies, caterpillars etc . The only insects are the honey bees from beekeepers hives nearby. I'm a grower and have a nursery full of beautiful flowering plants. The silence and emptiness is surreal.
Wow. Consise, thorough, passionate, accessible, beautifully edited, relevant, opinionated, insects. This presentation is truly something special. Thank you for sharing.
Roadkill, the amount of insects collected on my vehicle has declined dramatically since the seventies. This is due to herbicides, insecticides and heaven knows what else is sprayed on the land.
I'd keep it and use it all the time. It's an important topic. Bugs. I've noticed them missing from my neighborhood. Science! Working both ways. Thanks for your part! @@SciBugs
It is very alarming when they try to eliminate certain pests (e.g. mosquitoes) with genetic engineering. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES will surely lead to bad things.
I have always had a soft spot for praying mantis's. A couple of years ago I found out that you can keep them as pets. That very day I did my research on what I needed to do to have my own pet mantis. I received my captive bred praying mantis & I fell absolutely in love with it. Since then I have kept dozens of mantids & in the process I have grown a soft spot for all insects & arachnids. I now genuinely care about these creatures. Thanks to Travis McEnry I am no longer afraid of spiders & no longer kill them on site. I feel really bad about the massacre that I carried out in the past, they were just trying to live their lives & meant me no harm. I am now going to convert my grass yard into a "no lawn" & instead grow native wild flowers & other flower beds for the local insects to eat & enjoy. I dont mind sharing my yard with them. & wild flowers are a LOT less maintenance heavy than a grass lawn, that provides no benefit to the ecosystem. I might even release an ootheca of mantis's on my yard so that they can keep the bug population under control for me!
I agree with what you are saying, its literally been years since I have seen a hawk moth in Europe. Talking with my son and an old friend both of whom have budllea in their gardens in the UK which in years gone by attracted butterflys by the score now there are very few. Last year I visited the 'old home town' just across the border outside West London and when I was a kid back in the late 50s &; 60s the sky was 'black' with swifts, house martins and a few swallows, whilst sand martins were common by the River Thames, now there are only a few flying around. I am wtiting this in Spain, where there are far fewer wall geckos than there used to be and i rarelly ever see a butterfly. Whilst I fully realise that this evidence is only anecdotal and far from scientific I have sadly come to the same conclusion as you have that inscets especially flying one have declined quite sharply and noticably in my lifetime.
Cloud seeding and weather modification. They are constantly spraying silver iodide & potassium chloride in the stratosphere to make for permanent cloud cover & rain. It seems to be acting like an insecticide (which we are all ingesting too). Have you noticed the total lack of bug & fly spatter on your windscreens and wing mirrors ?
What organizations are working on fixing this and what solutions do we have across global/national/state/county/city-town-village- university campus and school campus, municipal buildings and buisness roofs and backyards as well as city parks and highways etc? Who has the solutions and regenerative science to fix a lot of this?
I bet it uas an effect on local populations. I remember reading an article a while back about how local populations of tarantulas were falling nearly to extinction because of unstainsble hunting practices. They were being used for food tho
And the computer, monitor, mouse, camera, microphone, your electricity, internet, my phone I’m using, my electricity, my lights, your lights, your clothes, my shoes, my clothes, everything we’re consuming to communicate your information is part of the problem. Everyone needs to go back to how we lived over 2000 years ago. Candles, walking, hunting, nomadic lifestyles, intertribal conflict, dancing around fires. Either we do it voluntarily or the environment will do it for us.
One of the things I like about living in Ecuador is even though I live a comfortable life style It's significantly less than the average person living in the states. There's not as much of a rat race for stuff here and needing the next newest biggest thing.
What we're actually seeing is a small group of controllers hoping to permanently enrich themselves at the expense of the many. Masses of people, reduced in number, herded into ever smaller spaces to 'save the planet' The controllers however, have zero intention of lifestyle change, except perhaps to make it more decadent.
This video was a tour de force! Every time forests are cleared for another warehouse, condominiums, or even solar farms, it breaks my heart.
Ya .. I didn't have time to talk about it but the hills outside is quito are being cleared out for urban expansion and it makes me sad to think about all the forest that used to be there ...
I know how much time, energy, research, and care went into this video - and you should be so proud! What an important masterpiece 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you 💚
I've been concerned about shifting baselines too. Last year we noticed our Violet Green Swallows were struggling to catch insects to feed their nestlings. These are birds that have returned annually for several years now. It was heartbreaking to watch and they abandoned the nest. We found two deceased young fledglings afterwards. Something needs to change or we are going to have so many regrets. Most people just aren't aware. Thank you for making this video! Awesome job.
Oh no! That's so sad. I think the good news is that ppl are starting to pay attention and that goes a long way.
Thanks for watching =)
@@SciBugs People are starting to pay attention but we are too late. We are beyond the point of no return. We can try doing small things like planting native plants and similar things but its the politicians which actually hold the power to change this dissaster. But they wont cuz saving animals doesn't make money :/
I've been a professional gardener in the UK for the last 15 years and my two main observations over that time would be that there's less bugs around every year and that the weather/seasons are getting really hard to predict. I can see how these things would go largely unnoticed by people who aren't reliant on predictable weather and don't spend a large amount of the time with their head in the scenery, neither are extreme enough to be obvious (yet) but you do notice if you look for it. I can count the amount of wasps I've seen this year on one hand, normally they're a constant source of irritation at this time of year particularly where the apples are dropping but this year I've noticed the stark absence of their bothersome presence.
Frightening times
They either all died already or learned to avoid vehicles. In the 80's your car got covered if you drove at night. Now I find almost no bugs on my truck, ever.
They are dieing. Pesticides, habitat loss, light and air pollution, climate change, city wide asphalt jungles with no access to water and more is killing them off. Insects now sadly aren't smarter than they were back then and neither are we as a species :/
@ohnothepossum I live extremely rural and they're all gone here too. I don't doubt the reasons you gave but it seems something else is killing them too.
@@PorkChopAChunky I live very rural as well, but i personally think the effects of climate change and co have just gotten too bad for animals already as to affect them even in the areas where one would think that they should still thrive.
Edit: But i don't doubt that there is for sure some stuff affecting them that we aren't that aware about
my money would be on round-up to explain the decline in insects
@@ohnothepossum PESTDICIDES! everything you mentioned is 100% true also but i think its really the pesticides that are screwing them over bad, especially in rural areas where the farms are, urban environments are terrible places for insects but a minuscule portion of land area is actually urban environment. Habitat loss makes em much more vulnerable to pesticides too
I have been looking for anyone that has also noticed how serious the insect decline has been. I'm in the uk and have noticed not just a lack of insects but have also noticed a change in texture and flavour of some fruit. Getting pretty worried here tbh x
Massive loss of bees in Eastern Scotland. Also worried.
Yes huge decline evident in UK SE - insects and birds. Very obvious in last 4 years especially ....
22:50 Interesting point about the native tree species. Makes me wonder if the pine, spruce, and fir beetles invading BC's forests are in part taking advantage of the fact that the majority of our forests were replanted in the past 100 years which altered the balance of native species.
I've got unmedicated adhd and I stayed glued to this presentation until the end. Nice.
Thank you! I also have uneducated ADHD so I know what a high compliment this is
You've outdone yourself with this one, Nancy. This was not only fascinating to watch, but important. Insects (and invertebrates in general) are such an important part of the world we live in that we can't afford NOT to pay attention to what's happening with them. I really appreciate how you looked at the studies and also critiqued their methods, not to trash them but rather to identify the kinds of future studies we need. I also loved how you brought up the role that amateurs can play in this.
Absolutely knocked it out of the park. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much for watching and all your kind words! I really appreciate you taking the time to write such thoughtful things.
She was a beast to get through especially with all the research and crafting a story around seemingly mismatched findings.
Thanks for coming along the journey with me =)
@@SciBugs yup, I know what kind of work goes into 40+ -minute videos with this level of research. It's a lot of effort, but your final result here was great.
@travismcenery2919 thanks I really appreciate it =)
I've been researching about insects for a couple of weeks for my thesis now. This analysis is so organized and well thought out, thank you!
I'm glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching
I think just about anyone who has lived long enough and done a lot of hiking out in the wilderness has noticed that animals as a whole are becoming rarer out there. It is most noticeable with the small creatures since they are the most common. Where I live in the desert stink bugs, carpenter ants, western fence lizards, blue tailed skinks, velvet ants, tarantula hawks, jack rabbits, and squirrels were all incredibly common during my childhood. They were the ubiquitous sorts of animals you saw at least once but usually multiple times on a single short walk. Now it is such a rarity to see these same creatures that most of them its been so long I can't even remember the last time clearly.
I used to see a half dozen to a dozen stink bugs on a single summer walk and it's now been close to half a decade since I last saw one. The tarantula hawks and velvet ants were rarer but I would see at least a dozen over the course of a year, now I can't even remember the last time I saw one. These were once very common creatures. The last time I saw an actual jack rabbit was about a year ago and it was a momentous occasion because it was the first in about half a decade. I used to see squirrels on about half my walks, now it's like once a year. The lizards which I would see at least one or two per walk are now I once a season occurrence. What happened to them all? This is a protected area I am talking about which has no development on it.
When i was a kid i often stayed up at night with a light on outside to see which insects would come by. There were all matter of moths, bugs and more. So many insects and also bats! If i do this now all i get are tons of mosquitoes and a couple small moths... There still are insects but they are dissapearing. It's horrible, the planet needs them!
Back in the 1980's & 90's, our car's summertime windshield & grill would be covered in bug carcasses. Gross & sad, but it's more sad that nowadays there are not enough bugs flying around to make that mess.
I barely remember that as a kid. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and I remember bugs hitting the windshield ... and by time I was a teenager and driving - the problem was almost non existent even in the rural area where I grew up.
Very engaging presentation. Kept me hooked the whole time. Attention didn't wander at all
Thanks!! This was a beast to get through so i appreciate you watching =)
500 Million years of variation and evolution gone in a moment... you can see the decline year by year now
Not just bugs, frogs and toads also, at least in the UK
I'm in UK too.
I'm a grower in a rural location and insects are practically none existent. Its also been an alarmingly sharp decline this year alone.
Commenting mostly to boost engagement but gotta say that this is an incredible, incredible video. Thanks for all the time and energy put into it.
Great job, Nancy! Thank you for doing this.
Thanka for watching!! =D
Fantastic video, thank you! I read several books by Dave Goulson, "Silent Earth" deals with similar issues. In Berlin many median strips are only being mowed once a year now which has made a huge difference, there are so many insects there now. In the beautiful town in Southern Germany where my family lives, surrounded by vineyards there are very few insects, mostly honey bees, almost no bumble bees. People there have trimmed short lawns and a lot of pesticides are used around the vineyards. I will be keeping an eye on the insects there to see what is going on.
THE TIPPING POINTS HAVE STARTED. ❤
Here in England in late July and l can tell you there are practically no insects this year. No Bumble bees, wasps, horse flies, butterflies, caterpillars etc .
The only insects are the honey bees from beekeepers hives nearby.
I'm a grower and have a nursery full of beautiful flowering plants. The silence and emptiness is surreal.
Oh no... so sad 😰😰
Wow. Consise, thorough, passionate, accessible, beautifully edited, relevant, opinionated, insects. This presentation is truly something special. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for watching =)
My kitchen window used to be covered with all kinds of insects at night, attracted to the light. Now there is hardly anything on the window at night.
A comment for the algorithm ;) awesome video ! Thank you so much for all your hard work ^^
Thank you for feeding the algorithm. =D
video has a loud clicking noise around 4:51 i dont know if its something you can go back in and fix
The future needs to look like a giant skyscraper with homes schools hospital etc in it, in the middle of a farm and garden for local production.
Grocery stores either need solar panels and or pollinator plants on top of car ports in their parking lots
Roadkill, the amount of insects collected on my vehicle has declined dramatically since the seventies. This is due to herbicides, insecticides and heaven knows what else is sprayed on the land.
Yep. Who would've thought spraying bug killer from planes would kill all the bugs.
and now spraying in the skies too in the name of saving the planet
No bees this year in our wild garden. Only a couple of years ago there were many.
So sad 😰😰
Outstanding. Deserves several orders of magnitude more views.
Thank you 💚
Thanks Nancy, very interesting video!
Thanks for watching =D
Yup, been wondering where all the fire flys went. I use this as an example of insects being gone
Excellent video. The loud clicking noise really holds the attention for such an amount of information. Spot on presentation.
Thanks =) yes it's in my notes for next time to make it a little less loud lol.
I'd keep it and use it all the time. It's an important topic. Bugs. I've noticed them missing from my neighborhood. Science! Working both ways. Thanks for your part! @@SciBugs
It is very alarming when they try to eliminate certain pests (e.g. mosquitoes) with genetic engineering. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES will surely lead to bad things.
I have always had a soft spot for praying mantis's. A couple of years ago I found out that you can keep them as pets. That very day I did my research on what I needed to do to have my own pet mantis. I received my captive bred praying mantis & I fell absolutely in love with it. Since then I have kept dozens of mantids & in the process I have grown a soft spot for all insects & arachnids.
I now genuinely care about these creatures. Thanks to Travis McEnry I am no longer afraid of spiders & no longer kill them on site. I feel really bad about the massacre that I carried out in the past, they were just trying to live their lives & meant me no harm.
I am now going to convert my grass yard into a "no lawn" & instead grow native wild flowers & other flower beds for the local insects to eat & enjoy. I dont mind sharing my yard with them. & wild flowers are a LOT less maintenance heavy than a grass lawn, that provides no benefit to the ecosystem. I might even release an ootheca of mantis's on my yard so that they can keep the bug population under control for me!
I remember washing my car, the headlights would be covered in squashed insects, now...none. This is the UK, its really bad here, theres nothing!
People will start caring when they don't have no food to eat
Ain't that the truth 😢
Yeah, for a couple of weeks. Then they’ll starve to death. Lol
I agree with what you are saying, its literally been years since I have seen a hawk moth in Europe. Talking with my son and an old friend both of whom have budllea in their gardens in the UK which in years gone by attracted butterflys by the score now there are very few. Last year I visited the 'old home town' just across the border outside West London and when I was a kid back in the late 50s &; 60s the sky was 'black' with swifts, house martins and a few swallows, whilst sand martins were common by the River Thames, now there are only a few flying around.
I am wtiting this in Spain, where there are far fewer wall geckos than there used to be and i rarelly ever see a butterfly. Whilst I fully realise that this evidence is only anecdotal and far from scientific I have sadly come to the same conclusion as you have that inscets especially flying one have declined quite sharply and noticably in my lifetime.
I think all thr anecdotal stories also paint a picture
Cloud seeding and weather modification.
They are constantly spraying silver iodide & potassium chloride in the stratosphere to make for permanent cloud cover & rain.
It seems to be acting like an insecticide (which we are all ingesting too).
Have you noticed the total lack of bug & fly spatter on your windscreens and wing mirrors ?
I totally agree.
The spraying is out of control in the UK and still people won't accept it even though its literally over their heads
There are many things to be concerned about in this world, cloud seeding is most definitely not one of them lol
Now I want to design ground traps that work in the rain forest.
Not putting them at the bottom of a hill helps ... ask me how I know that
What organizations are working on fixing this and what solutions do we have across global/national/state/county/city-town-village- university campus and school campus, municipal buildings and buisness roofs and backyards as well as city parks and highways etc? Who has the solutions and regenerative science to fix a lot of this?
Look up native keystone species of plants to plant in your area
This is also what happens when we have private property rights, because then those “rights” take precedence over nature.
A watch for another time. Very depressing.
Ya agreed. This isn't a good one if you're already depressed about the Ecological state of things
Humans cannot live without insects. Insects do just fine without us.
They're all in my garden
Oblige garden owners to have Compost Heaps in a corner... maybe a resevoir of worms and hopefully insects
This is another reason lawns are wasteful
I hate that we have to quantify their usefulness in terms of money and not just for the sake of nature 😢
Travis McEnery sent me!
I am ever grateful for him and for you for coming and watching!
Who's here after watching #KyleHill's same vid from a couple weeks ago. lol
Bring back ELF
I wonder if the illegal pet trade has any effect on populations too?
I bet it uas an effect on local populations. I remember reading an article a while back about how local populations of tarantulas were falling nearly to extinction because of unstainsble hunting practices. They were being used for food tho
And the computer, monitor, mouse, camera, microphone, your electricity, internet, my phone I’m using, my electricity, my lights, your lights, your clothes, my shoes, my clothes, everything we’re consuming to communicate your information is part of the problem. Everyone needs to go back to how we lived over 2000 years ago. Candles, walking, hunting, nomadic lifestyles, intertribal conflict, dancing around fires. Either we do it voluntarily or the environment will do it for us.
One of the things I like about living in Ecuador is even though I live a comfortable life style It's significantly less than the average person living in the states. There's not as much of a rat race for stuff here and needing the next newest biggest thing.
What we're actually seeing is a small group of controllers hoping to permanently enrich themselves at the expense of the many.
Masses of people, reduced in number, herded into ever smaller spaces to 'save the planet'
The controllers however, have zero intention of lifestyle change, except perhaps to make it more decadent.
Cloudseeding wiped most of them out , bottom line .
@@nomasker1360 No it didn’t bro you have no idea what you’re talking about
Starmer stool them
I don't think the insects are fans of chemtrailing.
Ya probably not
Your right their.
It's too bad republicans don't believe in science. That's a lot of people bringing the world down.
It's true, but there's a lot of people trying to bring it up too
You think they don't spray insecticides all over CA farm land? Or that it's Republicans secretly running the state?
"promosm"
the loud banging noises throughout the video, way louder than your muffled voice drove me to give up after a while sorry.
Nothing to do with 5G, of course.