ON LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS
Rex Burress
Most people are inclined to love our neighbors...as long as the neighbor is a nice little friendly family, or quiet retirees, who go to bed at a reasonable hour, and don't have noisy animals, but when it comes to loving our insect neighbors, a line is usually drawn!
Flies and mosquitoes usually bug us, and the preferred word is eradication and not love! Yet, as a recent article contends, there are “bugs we can't live without.” Other than pollinators and honey makers such as bees, over a million species of insects have fitted into the environmental matrix of the world and help to sustain other species.
While mankind has doubled our population in the past 40 years, total insects have been estimated to be reduced by almost half in that time, to a great extent by the use of insecticides/pesticides; used so that more food could be grown for the multitudes. Poisoning gets more than the target species, just as pest control of mosquitoes wipe out many innocent bystanders by using mass fogging of spray. Before Rachael Carson caught on to the DDT danger, birds and wildlife communities were suffering and headed toward a silent spring.
Alarmingly, at my home in Oroville, CA at the edge of the crop-filled Sacramento Valley and its crop-dusters, I notice the July mornings, and nights, are silent. No bird calls; no katydid singing. A nature center friend, Susan, moved to Georgia, and I asked her if there was a loud choir of night-time insects, as I had known in Missouri. “Oh yes!” she said. “And a great breakout of bird song early in the morning!” Is that an indicator, like a “caged canary in a cave” comparison? I'm suddenly lonesome for the morning bird calls.
One of the valuable services that insects provide for planet Earth is the disposal of waste. The processes of decomposition and decay are critical for the balance of life. Recycling dead animals and plant-matter back to usable 'dust' for the soil usually falls to the insects, with assistance from vultures and other scavengers. Take the matter of manure: Use a shovel if you wish! With over two million species of animals defecating on earth, the planet would be overwhelmed with organic waste [already overwhelmed with plastic trash] if a solution wasn't in place. Insects are a major muncher of rotten remains in helping to convert waste back into soil.
Take the case of introduced cows in Australia. In 1788, cattle were introduced, and by 1900, more than a million had multiplied on more than 500,000 acres of former grazing land turned useless by a crust of dried dung! The problem was due to the Australian dung beetles being accustomed to feeding on marsupial dung, like kangaroos, and could not convert to cow dung. Only when 23 species of cow-dung beetles from abroad were introduced was it solved. Worldwide, there are about 8000 species of dung or Scarab beetles, even though not all are dung eaters.
The dung beetle is a remarkable creature. As a boy on a Missouri farm, I watched by the hour as a pair of “Tumble Bugs” as we called them, rolled a ball of fresh manure out of a pile in the lane, one pulling and one pushing to some destination. They kept the fenced cow lane clear of piles! I only learned their life history later, largely compiled by naturalist J. Henri Fabre of France. He watched them far longer than I did! “You can observe a lot by just watching!” Yogi. Watching is the best way to learn.
Among species, some are dung rollers, some tunnelers, and some dwellers that live right in the pile until it's gone. The odor gets around fast! An African species can smell a fresh pile of elephant dung from miles away, and an enduring researcher recorded 4000 beetles to a fresh pile within 15 minutes, with 12,000 counted a few minutes later!
Dung beetles are edible, too! The trick is to soak them in water over night. Some animals feed on the raw beetle! Sixty percent of the world's birds are insect eaters, most notably, the flycatchers.
Caring for animal habitats is an important step in balanced wildlife communities. John Muir said;“The woods are full of dead and dying trees, but needed for their beauty to complete the beauty of the living.” That is a difficult statement to understand for people who have been through a fire like the Paradise CA 'Campfire,' but normally, birds to bears feed on the insects in wood, and the acorn woodpecker even stores acorns there.
It is stated in the Wall Street Journal article that generally, “In forests, it is desirable to ensure that enough old, dead trees be present to support a variety of life, including insects.”
“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” --E.B. White