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Post by beetlehorn on Mar 17, 2019 19:42:03 GMT -8
Not too far from where I live, I used to visit lighted lots for several key species of insects such as the beetles- Lucanus elaphus, Dynastes tityus, and different Buprestids and Cerambycids. Moths such as Callosamia angulifera, Hyalophora cecropia, Sphinx moths, and several different Catocalas including various other species. In the last three years the wooded areas around the locations I mentioned have been totally destroyed, and to no surprise, there are very few if any beetles to be found, much less any interesting moths. The constant chipping away of ecosystems here and there are really taking their toll on not only insect populations, but other wild creatures that once lived there. The trees that occupied these areas were mostly- Tulip Poplar, Hickories, Oaks, Maples, Ash, Cedar and Locust. All of them key host plants for a wide variety of species,and now they are All gone forever.
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Post by Paul K on Mar 17, 2019 21:51:10 GMT -8
That is very sad, it happens everywhere, almost 8 billion parasites here, what would you expect.
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 18, 2019 4:19:05 GMT -8
Where I collected as a kid is all housing now. Used to be forest and farm fields. All gone.
Behind me is 100 acres of forest. Deer, turkey, fox, coyotes, pileated woodpeckers. This too will disappear, some of it has already been developed. To me the saddest part is the spotted salamanders that breed in the vernal pools. They'll be gone too.
Chuck
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 18, 2019 7:08:08 GMT -8
Sadly this is happening everywhere, and when the areas around pristine habitat are degraded/"developed" that causes the environment inside the habitat to be more sensitive to environmental events.
For example, it is known that the strong El Nino event in 1983 caused the extinction of Bhutanitis lidderdalii ocellatomaculata on Doi Chiang Dao, about 90 km north of me here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Probably the degradation of the habitat all round the edges of the mountain exacerbated the effects of the drought. After all, EL Nino events happen every few years, some stronger than others, and the butterfly had survived there probably for at least a million years.
Adam.
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Post by trehopr1 on Mar 18, 2019 10:19:37 GMT -8
I have found that even just changing out the lighting to a different type is nearly as destructive to ones insect collecting. One site which I have visited many times and have had good success at recently switched lighting from Merc.Vapor bulbs (1500watt) to Halogen lighting/ bulbs. A visit last summer confirmed my fears. In 2 nights of visiting the site I felt as though the "draw" of the lighting was only perhaps 30% of what it was previous. Nothing else has changed. Same forest nearby. Same wild spaces present downhill from the site. Same bats still flying about picking off items as they come in. The lousy lighting is the culprit and now this place will just be a temporary stop of several made on any given night to find much worth keeping....
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Post by beetlehorn on Mar 18, 2019 11:02:18 GMT -8
Sadly this is happening everywhere, and when the areas around pristine habitat are degraded/"developed" that causes the environment inside the habitat to be more sensitive to environmental events. For example, it is known that the strong El Nino event in 1983 caused the extinction of Bhutanitis lidderdalii ocellatomaculata on Doi Chiang Dao, about 90 km north of me here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Probably the degradation of the habitat all round the edges of the mountain exacerbated the effects of the drought. After all, EL Nino events happen every few years, some stronger than others, and the butterfly had survived there probably for at least a million years. Adam. The thought of being responsible for the extinction of an entire species or even subspecies just strikes me as a catastrophic event. It begs the question......what in the hell are we doing to our planet, and just what gives anyone the right to go in and completely destroy a habitat that has been there for thousands of years?
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shadow
Junior Member
Posts: 20
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Post by shadow on Mar 18, 2019 12:06:56 GMT -8
In Wisconsin you can fill a wet land in and then put money into another part of the county (wet land already there) and say you created another wet land when all you did was pay a fine. Votes have results. Here it was Walker that gutted our DNR to become a mere shadow of what it once was. The EPA right now is doing some crazy things. I do not want to get political, but politics do play a role. In Peru so much forest is being cut that sp. are just gone ! As mentioned we humans are not doing a very good job at taking care of this planet.
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Post by 58chevy on Mar 18, 2019 12:20:42 GMT -8
The same habitat destruction is going on where I live. The places where I used to collect have been paved over. Every year I have to drive further away to find good collecting spots. Soon there will be no place to collect. Maybe aliens will land and threaten to wipe out humanity if we keep destroying our planet.
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Post by jshuey on Mar 18, 2019 12:55:20 GMT -8
Support a local land trust - donate $$ to help them preserve habitat in your region. They try to protect green space for the sake of keeping some things green.
Or support a larger land trust, - like the one I work for (TNC). Not everyone has to donate a zillion dollars to make a difference like the Dangermonds just did (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/bixby-ranch-dangermond-land-donation-in-california/548849/ ). Every dollar counts...
Right now in Indiana, I'm trying to scrape up about $300k to purchase a key tract at our Green's Bluff reserve - this would push us to almost 900 acres at this site (https://naturalbloomington.com/blog/2014/05/31/greens-bluff-one-states-most-scenic ). The bottom line is that every $$ counts in this type work.
John
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Post by joachim on Mar 18, 2019 18:09:22 GMT -8
yes also here in Germany though the regulations are rather strict. Our city has much parks with wild flowers, very beautiful, but very few insects. WEhen I studied here and I drove in the summer with my car, every 30 minutes I had to stop to clean the window. Nowadays, yes sometimes an insects crashs my car. I think it is also the whether, pestizids, insecticids and farmers use every singel square meter so that insects have no chance. owever bad storm and other things happen since million of years and all species we have survived. ( okay maybe many were extinct before but Bhutanis is a species which is maybe some million years old ) Are there any fossil butterflies?
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 19, 2019 5:31:52 GMT -8
Straight lines in Malaysian and Indonesian Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Central Kalimantan - simply zoom out to see vastness, or zoom in to see the the beautiful palm trees. Straight lines in Mindanao with pineapples. And it is getting better and better by the day.... Time to change our ways maybe? Jan The human population crash will take care of it.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 19, 2019 8:05:48 GMT -8
I heard a tale several years ago that the Chinese are "fixing" juveniles at the age of 12 or 13 years of age to slow population growth.
If that is true it would not surprise me.
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Post by LEPMAN on Mar 19, 2019 13:44:44 GMT -8
I heard a tale several years ago that the Chinese are "fixing" juveniles at the age of 12 or 13 years of age to slow population growth. If that is true it would not surprise me. I can attest that this is completely false news.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on Mar 19, 2019 15:09:02 GMT -8
I do know that population growth is a serious problem in both Chinia and India. As I said, it would not surprise me if they use extreme measures.
I also know that population growth is not contained, that the resourse of these countries cannot sustain any continued growth.
As a result, birth control is an issue.
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Post by beetlehorn on Mar 19, 2019 18:26:55 GMT -8
Support a local land trust - donate $$ to help them preserve habitat in your region. They try to protect green space for the sake of keeping some things green. Or support a larger land trust, - like the one I work for (TNC). Not everyone has to donate a zillion dollars to make a difference like the Dangermonds just did (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/bixby-ranch-dangermond-land-donation-in-california/548849/ ). Every dollar counts... Right now in Indiana, I'm trying to scrape up about $300k to purchase a key tract at our Green's Bluff reserve - this would push us to almost 900 acres at this site (https://naturalbloomington.com/blog/2014/05/31/greens-bluff-one-states-most-scenic ). The bottom line is that every $$ counts in this type work. John That sounds like a great idea John, but getting enough people to participate is the key. Some years ago I purchased 5 acres for $20,000. The trees that existed there 100 years ago are there right now. Huge Tulip Poplars, Oaks, Maples, Ash, Cedars, and one of the biggest Shagbark Hickory trees Iv'e ever seen. It is a patch of forest that is joined by other sections that make up a rather large tract of Eastern Hardwoods. I have been approached by potential buyers for development, but I refuse to sell, simply because I don't want it to be ruined. I may thin out some of the trees on one end of the property to promote secondary growth, but will talk to a forester first. Either way, the only development I will allow would be for the improvement of the forest for the local wildlife.
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