A new review study is looking for causes of insect mortality. But the entanglements of the authors raise questions.
Summer also comes in the star-Editorial conference at least once the speech on an important car part: the windshield. Are there fewer burst insects sticking there than before? And is that to be taken as an indication of insect mortality?
Incidentally, the meme of the insects smashed into the car has been haunting the internet for around 20 years. It probably goes back to the American naturalist Mark Hostetler, who published an amusing animal identification book in 1997: “That Gunk on Your Car”. So he called his “unique guide to the insects of North America”.
Many studies from Europe and North America have shown that the number and variety of butterflies, bees and beetles are declining. A look at the car glass can hardly answer the question of the extent of the death. Imagine a trip to a lake: a cool morning trip or one on a mosquito-ridden summer evening would give completely different results.