Grasshoppers . . . Where are they?

[troutbert]

I’ve seen a huge decrease in lantern flies over the last couple years. I’m in SE PA, I’d say right around Covid time there was thousands, this summer I’ve maybe seen 10. Are they just working their way west towards you guys?

I saw spotted lanternflies in Clinton County for the first time several days ago. I still have not seen any in Centre County.

About 2 years ago I saw large numbers of them in Mifflintown, Juniata County.

In both cases I saw them all over ailanthus (tree of heaven).

 

[jifigz]

According to scientific articles being published, insect species across the globe are collapsing. Is it all true or is some of it sensationalized journalism, I have no idea.

 

[JeffP]

I haven't seen them on my runs through Warwick Township on lower Hammer and Middle. It's been a couple years since I saw them. The roads used to be covered with huge, squashed hoppers.

 

[troutbert]

According to scientific articles being published, insect species across the globe are collapsing. Is it all true or is some of it sensationalized journalism, I have no idea.

What have you seen from your own observations?

From my own observations, I think insect numbers are way down.

 

[wildtrout2]

According to scientific articles being published, insect species across the globe are collapsing. Is it all true or is some of it sensationalized journalism, I have no idea.

It wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[Broodstock]

If someone wants to go down the hopper rabbit hole, you can read studies likethe ones linked here

"Variability in the response to weather suggests that grasshopper populations may respond to other factors that are correlated with weather and not to the weather directly (for example, the abundance and nutritional value of food, the cover providing protection from predators, diseases, etc.)."

These fluctuations are population are highly complex and depend on many factors, weather and climate are just a few.

Interesting observation about the pest management spray for mosquitos, usually that is Permethrin which is used, and it will kill pretty much all bugs that it contacts.

 

[keirns4]

I’ve seen a huge decrease in lantern flies over the last couple years. I’m in SE PA, I’d say right around Covid time there was thousands, this summer I’ve maybe seen 10. Are they just working their way west towards you guys?

Seems like they are just now flying around. I have killed at least 70 of them (fly swatter!) on my deck the past 3 days, 2 years ago I killed 200 of them in 2 hours. I think once the crops start being cut, they will be all over the place.

 

[Tigereye]

About a month ago I stopped in Bass Pro Shops in Harrisburg. Plenty of Lantern flies in parking lot, at the Sheetz station nearby, and the restaurants across from Sheetz

 

[jifigz]

Seems like they are just now flying around. I have killed at least 70 of them (fly swatter!) on my deck the past 3 days, 2 years ago I killed 200 of them in 2 hours. I think once the crops start being cut, they will be all over the place.

So you're saying that you're the person to blame for their decline? 🤣

 

[dudemanspecial]

Edit: nevermind, reading comprehension issues here

 

[Kms]

It wouldn't surprise me at all.

I’ve read that increased atmospheric CO2 has accelerated plant growth, but even though the plants grow faster they don’t uptake nutrients more quickly. So the plants that grow are less nutritious, and consequently the bugs that eat them “starve.”

https://www.pnas.org/post/podcast/nutrient-dilution-and-grasshopper-decline

 

[jifigz]

I’ve read that increased atmospheric CO2 has accelerated plant growth, but even though the plants grow faster they don’t uptake nutrients more quickly. So the plants that grow are less nutritious, and consequently the bugs that eat them “starve.”

https://www.pnas.org/post/podcast/nutrient-dilution-and-grasshopper-decline

If this is true, that is extremely alarming. This evidence would help explain a mass-extinction type of insect die-off, though.

 

[DomR]

According to scientific articles being published, insect species across the globe are collapsing. Is it all true or is some of it sensationalized journalism, I have no idea.

I agree with this assessment based on the eye test and 50+ years of life. Nowhere near the amount of insects, butterflies, honey bees, or birds than when I was a young boy.
Now wasps (i.e. yellow jackets) are still going strong....and enjoy my flesh evidently.

 

[jifigz]

I agree with this assessment based on the eye test and 50+ years of life. Nowhere near the amount of insects, butterflies, honey bees, or birds than when I was a young boy.
Now wasps (i.e. yellow jackets) are still going strong....and enjoy my flesh evidently.

Well, wild honey bee colonizes practically vanished after the influx of varroa mites in the 1980s. Managed apiaries keep them in check through using various means of treatment. For the most part, managed honey bee colonies are fine, but those wild honey bee colonies are gone.

They are nonnative to North America anyways, but having them here and wild in a tree is pretty cool, I think. Regardless, that one is mostly due (95?) to varroa. The rest of the pollinator onslaught is people killing their weeds, too much commercialized land, etc.

Flowering weeds shouldn't be your enemy, people.

 

[dudemanspecial]

I agree with this assessment based on the eye test and 50+ years of life. Nowhere near the amount of insects, butterflies, honey bees, or birds than when I was a young boy.
Now wasps (i.e. yellow jackets) are still going strong....and enjoy my flesh evidently.

I always had yellow jacket problems, i even had to call a guy out to cut a hole in my ceiling and remove a massive nest a few years back.

I started putting beer cans filled with 1/2 boric acid solution and 1/2 apple juice on every side of my house. Put a stick down in the can so they can climb out and feed it to their nest. Do this in the spring when the nests are small.

Haven't seen more than a handfull of wasps and yellow jackets all summer.

Here is the video I learned from. It works.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Well, wild honey bee colonizes practically vanished after the influx of varroa mites in the 1980s. Managed apiaries keep them in check through using various means of treatment. For the most part, managed honey bee colonies are fine, but those wild honey bee colonies are gone.

They are nonnative to North America anyways, but having them here and wild in a tree is pretty cool, I think. Regardless, that one is mostly due (95?) to varroa. The rest of the pollinator onslaught is people killing their weeds, too much commercialized land, etc.

Flowering weeds shouldn't be your enemy, people.

I let the clover and dandilions go wild in my yard and have lots of honeybees around.

 

[wildtrout2]

I agree with this assessment based on the eye test and 50+ years of life. Nowhere near the amount of insects, butterflies, honey bees, or birds than when I was a young boy.

I agree with your observation, in my case, 60+ years of life. I have noticed specifically, that I don't see anywhere near the number of bats I used to see as a kid. This could be the result of less insects that they rely on as a food source.

 

[dudemanspecial]

I agree with this observation, in my case, 60+ years of life. I have noticed specifically, that I don't see anywhere near the number of bats I used to see as a kid. This could be the result of less insects that they rely on as a food source.

Anyone feel free to correct me if my information is off here:

Bats had some kind of fungal infection within the last decade or so that wiped out a lot of their population. I can say that I have seen more this summer than I have in years so that is good.

 

[wildtrout2]

Anyone feel free to correct me if my information is off here:

Bats had some kind of fungal infection within the last decade or so that wiped out a lot of their population. I can say that I have seen more this summer than I have in years so that is good.

I should have included in my post, "your mileage may vary". 😀

 

[Kms]

If this is true, that is extremely alarming. This evidence would help explain a mass-extinction type of insect die-off, though.

Anyone feel free to correct me if my information is off here:

Bats had some kind of fungal infection within the last decade or so that wiped out a lot of their population. I can say that I have seen more this summer than I have in years so that is good.

Yes. White nose

White-Nose Syndrome Killed Over 90% of Three North American Bat Species

New Study Unveils the Impacts of the Disease on Native Bat Populations

www.usgs.gov