Maybe we can throw more battery cars at the problem?

So goes the bee so goes us

 

Such a massive loss of insects is distressing.
It sounds as if global warming, loss of habitat & pesticides are the strongest possibilities. Most likely each contributes differently in different locations.

While ‘throwing EVs’ at the problem will help with respect to one of those puzzles pieces, it isn’t a silver bullet.

 

The only time there was a mass extinction of insects was during the Great Dying. That event was preceded by a rapid increase of CO2 concentrations.

 

Thanks for the link. Have now read PNAS article but not deeply. Of no particular interest, they used some data I collected myself.

Possible shortcomings that authors are certainly aware of. Decades later, resampling was done at matching locations. This is on a mountainside in context of ~0.05 oC/yr T increase. In a sense, a matching climate slowly climbs the mountain. Possibly sampled animal groups climbed as well.

Also first sampling was done after a long hurricane gap, and second followed two strong hurricanes (but happened before Maria). In general it is not known how rapidly animal populations recover.

There are almost always caveats associated with fieldwork. Not saying authors did anything wrong. Stepping back, the best evidence that animal populations are taking a hit comes from concordance of results of different studies done in different places.