Driving back from a weekend away, my spouse remarked with some admiration the number of insects that met their maker on our car. I thought about that and the fact that there are several million other cars out there smashing insects. I realize that there are literally countless numbers of flying insects, so I know we’re not fretting over extinction here, but let’s face it, whatever number of bugs occurs naturally, fewer make it through their life cycle when we take to the roads. Do cars make a meaningful impact in the population of flying insects? Or are bug casualties on cars offset by the fact that habitat of other bug predators (say, bats) is being diminished (by the same forces that are increasing the number of cars on the road)?
I did, in fact, hear a recent report about a rare butterfly whose habitat in one area was bisected by a highway and biologists were worried about the numbers who were getting whacked by cars as they tried to cross from one field to another. It’s the only thing that kept me from dismissing this line of thought as hopelessly ridiculous.
Something for me to ponder as I try to scrape those dang things off the front o’ the family truckster when we go to the carwash…
Probably not much effect. Insect biota outweighs human. Of course, as humans destroy more and more habitat, more species will go extinct. I wouldn’t worry about the bugs on your grille.
IMHO, I would think that roadkills would only be of significance for an endangered insect species, as you noted. For a thriving species, the number of roadkills would be insignificant given the shear numbers in an insect population. Habitat loss, chemical pollution, etc. would be a more critical factor for the insect. Hmm…but maybe we’re diminishing a food source for another species (bird, bat, etc.) in the local areas by the highways.
On the other hand, I’m tempted to plan my next camping trip on the hundred metres of meadow and wood between the lanes one of the interstates. Let’s see how many bugs make it through that!
As pointed out above, with the possible exception of some rarities, the biosphere occupied by bugs is immense and our roadways hardly pierce it. Auto/bug fatalities would, I think, pale as a threat to bugkind when compared with the ravages their predators put upon them. Many birds and fish spend their days eradicating buggies with intent. Anybody else hear the NPR report a few days ago on bats? I didn’t retain the numbers, but they mentioned that when the bats in the Texas Hill Country stir for the eve, they show up on weather radar and consume a huge amount of insects (I want to say 20,000 tons, but I really don’t remember the number) per night.
I will admit that every time a big one SPLATs on my windshield I have to think, “Man, it took guts to do that!”
One of the funniest impacts I’ve seen was a HUGE grasshopper who apparently dove head-first into my grille. His head was out of sight, but the full length of his body, complete with long, spindly hopper-legs, stuck straight out, perfectly perpendicular to my grille. Wonder if he thought he was gonna win, taking me on head-on at 75 MPH…