#insect declines

[rcannon992]

Knapweed bonanza: insect biodiversity in a fallow field

[lilybug-02]

It is strange to think something so intrinsic to humans may be so detrimental to another.

Bug Fact: The glow of artificial light does not actually attract bugs, it interferes with their natural sense of direction.

“Unable to secure food, easily spotted by predators and prone to exhaustion... Many die before the morning comes.” - The Conversation

Keep your lights off at night when you can.

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Masterpost

[typhlonectes]

How Non-Native Plants Are Contributing to a Global Insect Decline

The impact of introduced plants on native biodiversity has emerged as a hot-button issue in ecology. But recent research provides new evidence that the displacement of native plant communities is a key cause of a collapse in insect populations and is affecting birds as well...

[vibinwiththefrogs]

I'm very confused by the lack of (I guess) cross-discipline topics talked about in undergraduate degrees. Unless this is specific to my school or something. But multiple times I've had professors who... don't know anything about a major ecological/environmental problem in their discipline. Maybe it's because I come at topics from a social/environmental direction rather than economic or purely scientific. But many times I've had professors who know the ins and outs of a scientific process but not much about how it exists in the real world. Like my entomology class hasn't even mentioned insect decline, and I asked my professor the other day if they knew anything about pesticide impact on insect populations and they knew nothing about it... I know I can't expect everyone to know everything I get into but.............. how do you get a whole PhD and not come across these topics. How do you teach a college class on a topic and don't know a major crisis within that topic.

[asgardian--angels]

Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

I'm not going to tell you to recycle more or take shorter showers. I'll be honest, that stuff is a drop in the bucket. What does matter on the individual level is restoring and protecting habitat, reducing threats to at-risk species, reducing pesticide use, improving agricultural practices, and pushing for policy changes. Restoring CONNECTIVITY to our landscape - corridors of contiguous habitat - will make all the difference for wildlife to be able to survive a changing climate and continued human population expansion.

**Caveat that I work in the northeast with pollinators and birds so I cannot provide specific organizations for some topics, including climate change focused NGOs. Scientists on tumblr who specialize in other fields, please add your own recommended resources. **

We need two things: FUNDING and MANPOWER.

You may surprised to find that an insane amount of conservation work is carried out by volunteers. We don't ever have the funds to pay most of the people who want to help. If you really really care, consider going into a conservation-related field as a career. It's rewarding, passionate work.

At the national level, please support:

The Nature Conservancy

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (including eBird)

National Audubon Society

Federal Duck Stamps (you don't need to be a hunter to buy one!)

These first four work to acquire and restore critical habitat, change environmental policy, and educate the public. There is almost certainly a Nature Conservancy-owned property within driving distance of you. Xerces plays a very large role in pollinator conservation, including sustainable agriculture, native bee monitoring programs, and the Bee City/Bee Campus USA programs. The Lab of O is one of the world's leaders in bird research and conservation. Audubon focuses on bird conservation. You can get annual memberships to these organizations and receive cool swag and/or a subscription to their publications which are well worth it. You can also volunteer your time; we need thousands of volunteers to do everything from conducting wildlife surveys, invasive species removal, providing outreach programming, managing habitat/clearing trails, planting trees, you name it. Federal Duck Stamps are the major revenue for wetland conservation; hunters need to buy them to hunt waterfowl but anyone can get them to collect!

THERE ARE DEFINITELY MORE, but these are a start.

Additionally, any federal or local organizations that seek to provide support and relief to those affected by hurricanes, sea level rise, any form of coastal climate change...

At the regional level:

These are a list of topics that affect major regions of the United States. Since I do not work in most of these areas I don't feel confident recommending specific organizations, but please seek resources relating to these as they are likely major conservation issues near you.

PRAIRIE CONSERVATION & PRAIRIE POTHOLE WETLANDS

DRYING OF THE COLORADO RIVER (good overview video linked)

PROTECTION OF ESTUARIES AND SALTMARSH, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELAWARE BAY AND LONG ISLAND (and mangroves further south, everglades etc; this includes restoring LIVING SHORELINES instead of concrete storm walls; also check out the likely-soon extinction of saltmarsh sparrows)

UNDAMMING MAJOR RIVERS (not just the Colorado; restoring salmon runs, restoring historic floodplains)

NATIVE POLLINATOR DECLINES (NOT honeybees. for fuck's sake. honeybees are non-native domesticated animals. don't you DARE get honeybee hives to 'save the bees')

WILDLIFE ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER (support the Mission Butterfly Center!)

INVASIVE PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES (this is everywhere but the specifics will differ regionally, dear lord please help Hawaii)

LOSS OF WETLANDS NATIONWIDE (some states have lost over 90% of their wetlands, I'm looking at you California, Ohio, Illinois)

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, esp in the CORN BELT and CALIFORNIA - this is an issue much bigger than each of us, but we can work incrementally to promote sustainable practices and create habitat in farmland-dominated areas. Support small, local farms, especially those that use soil regenerative practices, no-till agriculture, no pesticides/Integrated Pest Management/no neonicotinoids/at least non-persistent pesticides. We need more farmers enrolling in NRCS programs to put farmland in temporary or permanent wetland easements, or to rent the land for a 30-year solar farm cycle. We've lost over 99% of our prairies to corn and soybeans. Let's not make it 100%.

INDIGENOUS LAND-BACK EFFORTS/INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT/TEK (adding this because there have been increasing efforts not just for reparations but to also allow indigenous communities to steward and manage lands either fully independently or alongside western science, and it would have great benefits for both people and the land; I know others on here could speak much more on this. Please platform indigenous voices)

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (get your neighbors to stop dumping fertilizers on their lawn next to lakes, reduce agricultural runoff)

OCEAN PLASTIC (it's not straws, it's mostly commercial fishing line/trawling equipment and microplastics)

A lot of these are interconnected. And of course not a complete list.

At the state and local level:

You probably have the most power to make change at the local level!

Support or volunteer at your local nature centers, local/state land conservancy non-profits (find out who owns&manages the preserves you like to hike at!), state fish & game dept/non-game program, local Audubon chapters (they do a LOT). Participate in a Christmas Bird Count!

Join local garden clubs, which install and maintain town plantings - encourage them to use NATIVE plants. Join a community garden!

Get your college campus or city/town certified in the Bee Campus USA/Bee City USA programs from the Xerces Society

Check out your state's official plant nursery, forest society, natural heritage program, anything that you could become a member of, get plants from, or volunteer at.

Volunteer to be part of your town's conservation commission, which makes decisions about land management and funding

Attend classes or volunteer with your land grant university's cooperative extension (including master gardener programs)

Literally any volunteer effort aimed at improving the local environment, whether that's picking up litter, pulling invasive plants, installing a local garden, planting trees in a city park, ANYTHING. make a positive change in your own sphere. learn the local issues affecting your nearby ecosystems. I guarantee some lake or river nearby is polluted

MAKE HABITAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Biggest thing you can do. Use plants native to your area in your yard or garden. Ditch your lawn. Don't use pesticides (including mosquito spraying, tick spraying, Roundup, etc). Don't use fertilizers that will run off into drinking water. Leave the leaves in your yard. Get your school/college to plant native gardens. Plant native trees (most trees planted in yards are not native). Remove invasive plants in your yard.

On this last point, HERE ARE EASY ONLINE RESOURCES TO FIND NATIVE PLANTS and LEARN ABOUT NATIVE GARDENING:

Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Resource Center

Pollinator Pathway

Audubon Native Plant Finder

Homegrown National Park (and Doug Tallamy's other books)

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder (clunky but somewhat helpful)

Heather Holm (for prairie/midwest/northeast)

MonarchGard w/ Benjamin Vogt (for prairie/midwest)

Native Plant Trust (northeast & mid-atlantic)

Grow Native Massachusetts (northeast)

Habitat Gardening in Central New York (northeast)

There are many more - I'm not familiar with resources for western states. Print books are your biggest friend. Happy to provide a list of those.

Lastly, you can help scientists monitor species using citizen science. Contribute to iNaturalist, eBird, Bumblebee Watch, or any number of more geographically or taxonomically targeted programs (for instance, our state has a butterfly census carried out by citizen volunteers).

In short? Get curious, get educated, get involved. Notice your local nature, find out how it's threatened, and find out who's working to protect it that you can help with. The health of the planet, including our resilience to climate change, is determined by small local efforts to maintain and restore habitat. That is how we survive this. When government funding won't come, when we're beat back at every turn trying to get policy changed, it comes down to each individual person creating a safe refuge for nature.

Thanks for reading this far. Please feel free to add your own credible resources and organizations.

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Discovering the Night's Wonders: National Moth Week Celebration

[wickedzeevyln]

Stay

“What a gnarly sight that would be.”“What?” asked Andrew.“Like back in the days,” Ben said. “Except Frederick will be slumped stiff and grayed out.”“Leave the poor guy alone.”“Do you think that he is still there somewhere?”“You mean like a ghost?”“No, like if he is still in his molecule.”“Nah, he’s gone for good. It’s inevitable, we all have to go some time.”“Not today though, and besides, I left…

[fantasticwolfpenguin]

Yes the birds I wish for them a blessed year for their kind

Holy shit there are so many birds

[jim-fetter-illustrations]

Pollution is causing less pollination of food crops because insects can't pick up the plants scent!

Just when you think we've got a handle on things we are reminded by nature were still behind the eight ball, and in trouble awkwardly!!

This latest research on global warming and climate change is telling us Air pollution is making it hard for flowers and other growing things to get pollinated, according to a new study in the journal Science.

Now I don't need to tell educated people about what happens when flowers and crops can't be pollinated the natural way, with the help of insects, and when that doesn't happen we have to do it manually, and that effort raises the price of EVERYTHING by ten fold!!!

Ya see the thing is Pollution floating in the air may be invisible to see, but it's bastardizing the scent of everything that grows making it difficult for pollinators (the insects) to recognize the scent of the plant growing.

Insects use their sense of smell to find plants that give off pollen scents up to 5 miles away to attract the insects, but Pollutants called nitrate radicals eat away at the complex chemical signals that plants offer to bees and other insects, and these nitrates are found in urban air across the planet today.

And ya see,.... Without that ability to give off scents to attract insects, then the plant doesn't get pollinated, and the insects can't find sugar to keep on going, so the insect eventually dies out and the plants are manually pollinated raising the cost of food tenfold.

And were still voting to continue this process because people like Trump tell us it's total bullshit, but when you can no longer afford to buy food because the cost is to much, people like Trump will still be eating like kings, and YOU, well no one is gonna care about YOU at that point in the disaster.

Ya see,... Insects are primary consumers in many food chains, and their disappearance would affect animals that depend on them for food, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. The loss of insectivorous species could cause imbalances and disruptions in entire ecosystems!!!!

You stupid dumbasses that you are.

Keep voting the two party corruption and you'll be the ones who get fucked, not your political leaders who are telling you to keep feeding their bank accounts..... Just a random thought about the stupidity of humanity to follow the crowd right over the cliff of disaster, all the while thinking they are making things better.....

[tenth-sentence]

According to David Pimentel, the late professor of insect ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University, total grain production per capita has been declining since 1984; arable (cropping) land per capita has been declining since 1948; fish production per capita has been declining since 1980; and loss of food to pests has not decreased below 52 per cent since 1990.

"Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy" - Matthew Evans

[rjzimmerman]

Surprising New Research Links Infant Mortality to Crashing Bat Populations. (New York Times)

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

The connections are commonsense but the conclusion is shocking.

Bats eat insects. When a fatal disease hit bats, farmers used more pesticides to protect crops. And that, according to a new study, led to an increase in infant mortality.

According to the research, published Thursday in the journal Science, farmers in affected U.S. counties increased their use of insecticides by 31 percent when bat populations declined. In those places, infant mortality rose by an estimated 8 percent.

“It’s a seminal piece,” said Carmen Messerlian, a reproductive epidemiologist at Harvard who was not involved with the research. “I actually think it’s groundbreaking.”

The new study tested various alternatives to see if something else could have driven the increase: Unemployment or drug overdoses, for example. Nothing else was found to cause it.

Dr. Messerlian, who studies how the environment affects fertility, pregnancy and child health, said a growing body of research is showing health effects from toxic chemicals in our environment, even if scientists can’t put their fingers on the causal links.

“If we were to reduce the population-level exposure today, we would save lives,” she said. “It’s as easy as that.”

The new study is the latest to find dire consequences for humans when ecosystems are thrown out of balance. Recent research by the same author, Eyal Frank, an environmental economist at the University of Chicago, found that a die-off of vultures in India had led to half a million excess human deaths as rotting livestock carcasses polluted water and spurred an increase in feral dogs, spreading waterborne diseases and rabies.

“We often pay a lot of attention to global extinctions, where species completely disappear,” Dr. Frank said. “But we start experiencing loss and damages well before that.”

[moments-divins]

🦇 the-birds-and-the-bats Follow

PLEASE keep your zoophagous familiars indoors or preferably, locked up in a sanitarium (it’s where they thrive, but if u can’t afford a sanitarium, a dank dungeon in your castle will work) but for the love of the devil your zoophagous familiar is not an outdoor familiar. no exceptions

🦇 the-birds-and-the-bats Follow

i am so tired of trying to explain to familiar owners in the notes that zoophagous familiars are not meant to roam free out of doors. they are a danger to themselves and their environment.

here is a link to a study done on the relationship between the rise of outdoor familiars in Essex and the decline of the sparrow population.

and no, your familiar is not the exception.

🧪 doctor-jekyllstein Follow

Lol OK op, anyway…

My zoophagous maniac only eats insects. She is doing absolutely no harm to the environment. Plus, she hates being cooped up in a cell, she always breaks out. She was meant to be outdoors, and she’s not a danger to birds! She’s a sweetheart! She would only hurt a fly. And the occasional spider haha

🦇 the-birds-and-the-bats Follow

where do i even start with this. first of all, i don’t know how to explain to you that insects are a part of the environment…

secondly, the nature of zoophagous familiars is that they will work their way up the food chain. you may only see her eating flies and spiders, but unchecked their eating habits go to birds and cats and sometimes even humans. if she is free roaming as you claim, she’s probably already consumed countless sparrows. KEEP HER INSIDE.

and finally, you mentioned she keeps breaking out of her cell. there could be a few reasons for this. either she’s not getting enough enrichment, or she’s being enthralled and called to her master. if it’s the latter, don’t worry about it <3 but if she keeps breaking out you need to make sure she’s getting the enrichment she needs. are you giving her sugar to lure her flies? a notebook to count the lives she’s consumed? space to ramble about her theories on blood being life?

keep her indoors. if she breaks out to monologue about rats she needs your attention. entertain her. but keep your zoophagous familiars indoors.

☠️ graveyard-smash Follow

of course it’s a mad scientist bitching about this post. mad scientists need to learn to keep their gloved hands out of the monster community

🦇 the-birds-and-the-bats Follow

hi op here, please don’t go leaving exclusionist comments on my post. mad scientists are known to toe the lines of monstrosity, often times themselves becoming monsters whether literally or socially, and very frequently are in contact with or creating monsters. this is a post about zoophagous familiars, which are notoriously looked after by some form of mad scientist/doctor. like it or not, there will always be mad scientists and doctors in the monster community.

🧛🏻 nose-fur-achoo Follow

my familiar isn’t zoophagous but they often leave my manor to lure me victims. is that okay?

🪦 undead-and-loving-it Follow

the reading comprehension on this site is bloody awful

🩸sleepalldaypartyallnight Follow

how dare you say blood is awful????!!!!

[bugtistic]

I think one of the absolute most frustrating things for me personally about the current climate crisis / late stage capitalism hell is that ontop of people just outright denying it and acting like the rising temperatures are normal- there’s been like. A VERY noticeable decline in the amount of insects yearly. As someone who goes out of my way to see bugs, every single year for the past decade there has been a sharp decline in bugs. What used to be fun filled summer months running around, catching grasshoppers and petting caterpillars… there’s nothing. I’ve seen one grasshopper this year. I’ve not seen a single caterpillar! It’s currently the ant nuptial flight season in my area and I’ve seen 0 winged ants. They used to all but infest my home during flight season

I remember as a kid, I used to excitedly find ladybug larvae, and I’d relocate them to plants covered in aphids. But I’ve seen one ladybug in the past 5 years, and 0 larvae. I’ve not even seen any aphids. It’s so tangible, it’s so noticeable to me as someone who considered this my absolute favourite season to do my favourite activity in. And I know if the bugs are dying off, other things that eat those bugs are to.

And the absolute worst part? When I tell people about this, the average reaction is ‘good!’. A lot of people will express joy over there being less bugs in the world. Most will express how they’re glad they’ve been experiencing less mosquitos and I want to just grab by the shoulders and shake them and yell TONS OF BUGS JUST DISAPPEARING SHARPLY OVER THE YEARS IS NOT A GOOD THING !!

Anyways. Fellow entomology nerds, have any of you also noticed a drastic decrease in bugs you’re finding yearly or is my area just in a bug deficit.

[tiger-lily-55555]

I went on a walk today, and saw a bunch of my first bugs of the season!

First up was a bumblebee near the park. I heard it before I saw it - I forgot how nice the sound of its buzzing is! I saw a fly a bit later on siting on a dead leaf, only spotting it because of the contrast of its shiny exoskeleton. As I was leaving I caught a glimpse of a small, white butterfly. I don’t know the species, but they’re pretty common here.

Then, on my way home, I saw a bunch of wasps by a wooded fence! The first was a smaller, black and yellow one that we call yellow jackets. I think I saw another one as well, but it moved too quickly for me to get a good look at it. The final wasp was twice the size of the yellow jackets, with dangling yellow legs and a red-brown body. I’m not sure what species this one is, but I saw a similar one hanging out in our garden last year. I wonder if they were gathering the wood from the fence for their nests.

During the entire walk I also saw some lone ants making their way across the sidewalk, and a few smaller, fly-like bugs that I couldn’t get a good enough look at to see what they were.

It may be a bit silly to be writing all of this out, but I’m just really happy that the bugs are back! The more I learn about them, the more I look forward to seeing them when I’m outside. I hope that once the garden gets going, I’ll get to see them more often when they visit!

[mindblowingscience]

Lighting up our nightscapes can make plants tougher to chew on, forcing insects to find food elsewhere or go hungry, a new study finds. This could be contributing to the worldwide decline in insects and have flow-on impacts on entire ecosystems, according to a team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We noticed that, compared to natural ecosystems, tree leaves in most urban ecosystems generally show little sign of insect damage," explains environmental scientist Shuang Zhang. "We were curious as to why."

Continue Reading.

[reasonsforhope]

In 2022, something happened in Britain for the first time in 6,000 years. Deep in the Kent countryside, a wild European bison calf was born as part of the Wilder Blean rewilding project. The last time wild European bison roamed Britain’s landscapes was after the last Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, so it’s no wonder the calf’s arrival caused a stir. European bison were once a common sight across most of Europe. As the largest herbivore to roam the continent, European bison could be found from France all the way to the tip of the Black Sea in the Ukraine. The fossil record tells us that European bison have been roving the continent since the end of the Paleolithic Ice Age, with the earliest fossils dating back to 9,000 BC.

Now, bison are bouncing back. They have experienced a 166-fold increase in their population in the last 50 years. And these rates of return are not solely the reserve of the mighty bison. Other wild European mammals are also making a roaring comeback, and the speed of their resurgence suggests that wider, rapid natural regeneration is possible with multiple ecological, and therefore human benefits.

From 1960 to 2016, Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) populations have ballooned 167-fold, from just a few thousand at the start of the 20th century to over 1.2 million wild beavers today. Grey seal populations have also grown by 6,273 percent and the population of Alpine ibex has risen by 417 percent. Eurasian badger populations have doubled, while Eurasian otter populations have tripled.

While these impressive rates of recovery are not reflected across all of Europe’s 250 wild mammal species, they do provide some evidence-based hope that wild mammals can once again flourish across Europe’s diverse and varied landscapes with the right support and policies in place.

The big picture

... Over the last 50 years the fate of some wild mammals across Europe has shifted. Some populations have experienced a rapid and dramatic increase over the last half century, reversing millenia of decline and offering fresh hope that nature can recover – if it’s given the chance.

Brown bear numbers have risen by an average of 44 percent between 1960 and 2016, while the Iberian lynx has seen its population grow by 252 percent. Humpback whales have seen their numbers rise by 37 percent between 1986 to 2016, while the pine marten – a natural predator to the invasive grey squirrel – has seen its population grow by 21 percent from 1986 to 2016. Some reptile species, such as the loggerhead turtle, have seen its numbers grow by 68 percent over the last 40 years.

The most impressive bounce backs, however, are among the beaver and bison – two species that play vital roles within ecosystems. Both beaver and bison populations have seen 167-fold increases over the last 50 years. These mammals help support a rich mosaic of habitats and biodiversity. Wild bison, for instance, trample and wallow in the soil and sand to create niche habitats for plants, insects and lizards, while also playing an important role in the dispersal of seeds.

Context and background

The impressive recovery rates over the past 50 years have been possible due to a shifting cultural and economic context. Alongside this, there is a growing scientific consensus of the importance of small and large mammals for sustaining biodiversity and helping ecosystems flourish. The sheer diversity of mammals, both in terms of their morphology and their roles within ecosystems, is testimony to the functions they perform. From the tiny bumblebee bat, which weighs just two grams, to behemoth blue whales, weighing in at 150,000 kilograms, mammals really do come in all shapes and sizes.

Wild mammals play a variety of leading roles within an ecosystem, from dispersing seeds, pollinating plants and regulating insect populations, to reducing disease transmission and creating niche habitats for other species. The European bison reintroduced to Kent in the UK have already started clearing paths through undergrowth, ripping the bark off trees, and wallowing around in the mud to make space for seeds and other habitats – natural processes that humans would struggle to replicate. Bison and other large herbivores are often labelled ‘ecosystem engineers’ for this very reason – they shape and manage the land they reside on.

Some species of mammals – such as the magical beaver – are considered keystone species due to their ability to shape the ecosystems around them, creating entirely new habitats through building dams where fish, birds and all manner of species can thrive. Other mammals, like bats, act as indicators of healthy and functioning ecosystems. Between 1974 and 2016, Geoffroy’s bat populations have increased 53-fold across Europe.

Wild mammals also have a role to play in reducing the damage and destruction wrought by climate breakdown. In the temperate climate of Europe, large mammals have been proven to reduce the risk of forest and wildfires by creating gaps in vegetation through grazing and trampling. In the summer of 2022, wildfires ravaged Europe, burning the second-largest area on record. As global temperatures continue to rise, wildfires will increase in their frequency and severity. Bolstering the population of large mammals could provide a useful tool in the fight against fires alongside deep and immediate cuts to emissions...

What’s more, the grazing of wild mammals can also help retain the carbon stability of soil over long periods of time. Soil contains vast amounts of carbon – more than all plants and the atmosphere combined – which makes ensuring its stability important for both climate efforts and environmental conservation. Mammals like the alpine ibex, which have seen their numbers grow by 417 percent from 1975 to 2016, are highly effective at stabilising soil carbon within grazing ecosystems.

-via Rapid Transition Alliance, March 29, 2023