busyRegrettably they didn't crunch the numbers to produce the most useful one: an estimated value per bat. Someone did that with bees once, when trying to convince farmers not to spray all the bees to death. The campaign included the memorable line, "Whenever you see a bee, just think of her as a little $20 bill flying by." That helped.
Don't think plummeting bat populations are your problem? Bats eat insects including the mosquitoes that spread all those lovely tropical diseases that are spreading north, such as West Nile virus. Fewer bats mean more mosquitoes and a higher chance of getting bitten.
April 5 2011, 00:53:11 UTC 10 years ago
BTW, native bees are in a serious decline, now, too, and the pollination specialists are getting seriously concerned, because that was their "fallback plan" for crop pollination.
I can also see an interrelation. Few bats = pesticide = fewer pollinators = fewer crops = threat of famine.... It's not a good spiral.
Yes...
April 5 2011, 01:02:43 UTC 10 years ago
Most people don't understand the environment, ecosystem, or biosphere well enough to grasp why these things are problems. They have a very short-range, short-term, humanocentric focus. The world doesn't. That way lies trouble.
>>BTW, native bees are in a serious decline, now, too, and the pollination specialists are getting seriously concerned, because that was their "fallback plan" for crop pollination.<<
Native bees are threatened by a wide range of problems including habitat loss, pesticides, GE crops, and invasive species. They can be helped by planting native flowers, leaving a few patches of bare ground for nesting, avoiding harsh chemicals, etc.
>> I can also see an interrelation. Few bats = pesticide = fewer pollinators = fewer crops = threat of famine.... It's not a good spiral.<<
Well, step back a pace. Pesticides interrupt the natural predator/prey cycle. Once those start, the beneficial insects tend to get wiped out, whereas pest species are the hardiest, fastest, most adaptable ones -- so they survive and evolve to withstand the toxins. Pretty soon the pests are totally out of hand with little to stop them. Much the same happens with weeds, too. Human activity has destabilized much of the ecosystem, removing the buffers and balances. The collapses and explosions in populations are results of that. It often isn't a single cause, but a set of related causes interacting to create an overwhelming shift.
April 7 2011, 03:40:24 UTC 10 years ago
I love my bees, and we're trying to figure out what to do this year to make them thrive.
Hmm...
April 7 2011, 04:19:29 UTC 10 years ago