The latest insight comes from a study on butterflies in the Midwest, published on Thursday in the journal PLOS ONE. Its results don’t discount the serious effects of climate change and habitat loss on butterflies and other insects, but they indicate that agricultural insecticides exerted the biggest impact on the size and diversity of butterfly populations in the Midwest during the study period, 1998 to 2014.

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[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 47 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This is one of those “no shit” things that Rachel Carson talked about in 1962.

[–] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 35 points 2 months ago

Lol, yep. Oh you spray lots of stuff that's designed to kill bugs? I think it might be killing lots of bugs!

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@kbin.run 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring), https://archive.org/details/fp_Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962

[–] slumberlust@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Reactionary!

[–] misterdoctor@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Butterfly Detective is an incredibly cool job to have, although the findings here are admittedly bad.

[–] FlightyPenguin@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'd watch a papillon noire.

[–] NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

She had antennae like black snakes, and right away I knew she was trouble.