Fight of the bumblebee
Our butterflies are blighted too as both are dying off here at four times the global rate
IRELAND’S butterflies and bumblebees are dying off at almost four times the catastrophic global rate, new figures show.
However, the damage can be reversed if people become ‘lazy gardeners’, one campaigning ecologist has said.
The steady collapse of Ireland’s bumblebee population could eventually have devastating effects on our wildlife and life as we know it, according to Dr Tomás Murray, senior ecologist with the National Biodiversity Data Centre. He urged people to become ‘lazy gardeners’ by not cutting the grass as often and letting patches of their garden grow wild.
‘Everybody can do a little bit; it’s all about making a little bit of space for nature to survive and thrive,’ he said. ‘One of the simplest things you can do at this time of year is don’t cut your grass until the dandelion has finished flowering. It is such an important resource for pollinators and many different flying insects as well.’
The NBDC currently has an all-Ireland Pollinator Plan which people can learn about and contribute to by visiting pollinators.ie.
A global report revealed last week how the world’s insects are heading down the path to extinction, which will threaten a ‘collapse of nature’s ecosystems’.
And figures from the NBDC reveal that Irish butterfly populations have plummeted 12% over the past decade, while bumblebee numbers are down 14% in the last six years.
Dr Murray said there has been a steady drop in these populations over the last decade. ‘Sadly, yes, across the 120 sites in our butterfly monitoring scheme, our recorders have detected an average annual decline of 2.6% over the past ten years, slightly above the global average of 1.8%,’ he said.
‘Similarly, across the 100 sites in the bumblebee scheme, our recorders have observed average declines of 3.7% per annum over the past six years, markedly above the 1% global average.’
The global study confirmed that more than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction of insects is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. Dr Murray said the fall in Irish butterfly and bumblebee populations is a strong indicator as to the well-being of other insect populations in Ireland – but only a tiny fraction are monitored. He said the ‘enormity of the problem’ faced by humanity if insects continue to decline or are wiped out is not appreciated because people don’t realise how much insects do in nature. ‘A third of everything we eat has been pollinated by a bee,’ Dr Murray said. ‘For community groups, one of the most effective ones is changing your mowing regime to every six weeks... There is hope. We know exactly how to reverse these declines but ultimately it takes a whole society to do this.’