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moth

Insect Species Declining Could Be Catastrophic

According to Brett Molina in a USA Today article published February 12, 2019:
“More than 40 percent of the world’s insect species could go extinct over the next several decades leading to “catastrophic” results for the planet’s various ecosystems, a new study says.”

Read Article

The study referred to was published in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation. Highlights from the study abstract are:

  • Over 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction.
  • Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and dung beetles (Coleoptera) are the taxa most affected.
  • Four aquatic taxa are imperiled and have already lost a large proportion of species.
  • Habitat loss by conversion to intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines.
  • Agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change are additional causes.
Read the Study Abstract

 

The loss of the native insects will have dire consequences for the rest of the life chain. For those who may have missed this article. We are not alone. And we are fighting the right conservation battle. According to Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent at BBC news “Global insect decline may see ‘plague of pests'”. . .

Read BBC Article
Praying Mantis on Parade Grounds by Justine Kibbe

Step Lightly

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Praying Mantis on Parade by Justine Kibbe

Praying Mantis today on Parade Grounds, Fishers Island.

– from The Field by Justine Kibbe November 1, 2018.

Tent Caterpillars

This Morning – Up East is For the Birds

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Warmth of May days on Fishers Island calls birds of a feather to enjoy “Cater” pillars under the Tent! I stopped to spy these squirming caterpillars blossoming as fast as the buds that surround them. Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, Chickadees and the Nuthatch are just a few birds that look forward to this “menu”.

So keep your eyes peeled!

Winter Woolens

Winter Woolens?

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I caught up with a Woolly Bear “caterpillar of the community” while pedaling the Fishers Island Recreational Bike path just to see what traditional folklore might have to say. With a wider rusty band of color-we can hope for a mild winter. More black, might indicate more severe weather.

– Video Snippet by FIConservancy Naturalist Justine Kibbe, February 15, 2018

ticks

The Tick Threat Is Serious This Year

By Melinda Wenner Moyer – a science writer based in Cold Spring, New York, and is Slate’s parenting advice columnist.

The ticks have arrived. So many, so tiny, so hungry. Friends from New York to Wisconsin are freaking out, pulling ticks off themselves daily, asking me how to keep these blood-sucking, disease-spreading menaces away. They turn to me because I’m a tick fiend: I’ve interviewed dozens of tick researchers and been to tick-borne disease conferences; I’ve covered the tick beat for Nature and Scientific American. I even started a tick Facebook group (called Tick Talk, of course). A scientist once told me to “think like a tick,” and that’s exactly what I do, because I live in one of the most tick-dense, Lyme disease–plagued regions of the United States, and I want to keep my family safe.

Read full article on slate.com

Listening To Dragonfly

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So transparent your message

On delicate wing

Gift of grace with precision

Poised in these moments you speak

In whirlwind of change,

“To balance so dearly life upon our Island”

 

 

 

 

Spiderweb at Middle Farms

Monarch Butterfly

September 17 Evening @ Race Point: The Monarch butterflies are still very prevalent in numbers here. The Golden Rod seems to be a flower of choice this warm eve. Sunlight and shadows this time of month are my favorite. I am learning different seaweed types and note that the Irish moss, Sea Lettuce and Knotted Wrack appear healthy here.