Alarm over decline in flying insects
Found on BBC News on Friday, 20 October 2017
Research at more than 60 protected areas in Germany suggests flying insects have declined by more than 75% over almost 30 years.
They stressed the importance of adopting measures known to be beneficial for insects, including strips of flowers around farmland and minimising the effects of intensive agriculture.
Dr Lynn Dicks, from the University of East Anglia, UK, who is not connected with the study, said the paper provides new evidence for "an alarming decline" that many entomologists have suspected for some time.
A few decades ago, the industry and politicians told farmers to cut down every small spot covered with wild flowers and bushes because it harms effiency. Farmers were also told to rely on modern chemistry to keep weeds and insects away from crops. Now everybody gets the bill for that.