Counting bug splats on vehicle license plates shows numbers of flying insects has dropped significantly

Bob Yirka is a writer for Phys.org.

A team of researchers with the Buglife project, working with the Kent Wildlife Trust, have found evidence that suggests the number of flying insects in the U.K. has dropped over the past several years. A technical report has been posted by the group.

Buglife is a British charity that focuses on the preservation of freshwater habitats. The group noted that most studies on flying insect numbers have been focused on distribution. The app called Bugs Matter was created to help ordinary citizens learn more about the abundance of such creatures in the U.K. Users were asked to clean their license plates before heading out on a journey in their vehicle and then to photograph and count the number of bugs they found when they returned. The team at Buglife unified the data into a count of bug splats for the entire U.K. from 2004 to 2021.

The researchers found that the number of splats dropped dramatically over the course of the study. The findings were described to the press by Buglife spokesman Matt Shardlow as "dramatic and alarming".

Climate change, habitat loss, and the use of pesticides are some of the reasons why flying insect numbers have been dropping around the world. The population numbers for flying insects could be half of what they were in the past. The new effort seems to back up the estimates.

The researchers are working on the project. Volunteers can download the Bugs Matter app and record data this summer.

More information: The Bugs Matter Citizen Science Survey: cdn.buglife.org.uk/2022/05/Bug … -National-Report.pdf

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