insects – Page 2 – envirobites

Saturday, April 20, 2024

To bugs in streams, fine sediment is not so fine

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Garrett Frandson 0 Comments agriculture, insects, water, water quality

Clearing land for agriculture often leads to decreased flow velocities and in increase in fine sediment additions in nearby streams. While many stream bugs rely on small fine sediments, too much of it can detrimentally affect them. Changes to flow velocities and inputs of fine sediment in affected streams are not always equal in magnitude, so an experiment was run to see the responses of aquatic macroinvertebrates to various combinations of flow and sediment conditions. The scientists found fine sediments negatively impacted almost all stream bugs and that low flows exacerbated the problem.

Ecosystems Remote Environments

Bugs from the deep: hyporheic stoneflies contribute much to their Ozark streams

March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 Garrett Frandson 0 Comments insects, Ozarks, secondary production, water

Buried beneath the streambed is another environment home to a population of bugs more important to their local streams than ever before thought!

Environmental Science Remediation

Junk food fit for the bugs

February 17, 2020February 19, 2020 Mary Davis 0 Comments insects, plastic, Pollution

Some “food” doesn’t have much nutritional value… and this is certainly true of plastic! Some bug larvae seem to be eating plastic, but they don’t live very long as a result. In a recent study, researchers experimented with different diet supplements to improve larvae’s ability to live off of plastic.

Environmental Science

The thieving, bribing lives of plants

December 26, 2019January 15, 2020 Kara Cromwell 0 Comments behaviour ecology, Ecology, insects, plants

There’s more to these leaves than their soft and fuzzy side–the fine hairs trap drifting pollen grains, which the plant can use to bait arthropods to stop by for a snack of pollen and stick around to munch on pests that harm the plant.

Climate Environmental Science

Native milkweed supports healthy monarch communities

August 28, 2019August 21, 2019 Ashley Riane Booth 0 Comments behaviour ecology, butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, insects, invasive species, invertebrates, milkweed, monarch butterflies

“Monarch butterflies do really well on the exotic milkweed species that’s being widely sold and planted under current environmental conditions. But under warmer conditions, the exotic plant becomes too toxic and monarchs become less healthy.”

Ecosystems Environmental Science

Dropping Like Flies: Two Fungi Might Have What it Takes to Stop Spotted Lanternfly.

June 28, 2019June 25, 2019 Abigail Bezrutczyk 0 Comments biocontrol, Ecology, fungi, insects, invasive species

Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is a threat to apple and grape crops in the northeast– research in biocontrol may help to stop the spread of this invasive insect.

Cities Environmental Science

Mentally “exhausted” honey bees—petroleum exhaust makes bees learn slower and forget faster

June 27, 2019June 28, 2019 Kara Cromwell 0 Comments Air pollution, bees, Ecology, insects, pollinators

Scent pollution from exhaust fumes could disrupt the relationship between honey bees and the flowers they feed from and pollinate. The smell of flowers invites pollinators to come and feast on their nectar. But exhaust masks those smells, making it harder for bees to learn and remember the floral scents that cue them in to flowers.

Cities Environmental Science

The global buzz: A call to restore insect biodiversity

March 6, 2019September 12, 2022 Matt Baumann 0 Comments agricultural pollution, biodiversity, Conservation, insects, Restoration, urban development

Insects are in decline worldwide. Without a rethinking of current agricultural practices and a bucking of trends in urbanization, biodiversity of insects is threatened globally. Insects are the structural and functional base – the linchpin – of all ecosystems. We are part of those ecosystems. Unlike the vastness of climate change and its many aspects, the solutions to the problem of insect declines are readily available. With proper perspective, appreciation, and respect for the roles insects play in ecosystem integrity, human health, and economic markets, we can reverse course.