Ask An Entomologist: Where Are The Bugs??
September 12th, 2007 by Kelley
Norris:
Where are the insects? I can’t seem to find anyone who wants to talk about this–or agrees that it’s a problem. Possibly in your area it’s not but here in Central New York(Syracuse) there are so few insects it’s scary. I left a screen off a bedroom window this spring since it was a favorite cat hang-out–telling them that shortly I’d have to put it on. I never did–and nothing gets in–an unheard of situation. We live on the edge an old forest fragment and there has always been a bee tree. I’m aware of the honeybee troubles and wasn’t surprised (but dismayed) that there were only a few at the water I put out for them–then I realized I was seeing no yellow jackets or other hornets and not wasps. These have always been abundant. I pondered the idea that the honeybee plight was also affecting other hymenoptera. But it doesn’t stop with them–there is a definite drastic reduction in insect numbers of all kinds. I hope I’m not telling you something you don’t know and would really appreciate your “take” on this situation.—Thanks–Norris
Hello Norris, I can answer this question quite simply…all the insects are in my collection jars 
Seriously though, I can assure you that while honey bee populations may or may not be disappearing (for more info on recent news with the honey bees, see here), there are still plenty of insects abounding around us. Coincidently I work in the greater Syracuse area, a lot of my insect photos posted on this site come from there. I can’t say I have noticed a lack of bugs.
One of the reasons you may be noticing a decline in insect activity in your backyard could be a lack of nutritional resources. You mentioned your backyard was on the edge of an old forest fragment. Generally speaking, there is less insect diversity in a forest, than say a prairie or other area with lots of under story plant resources. The kind of hymenopterans you are describing seek out plants high in nectar and pollen…so if those sorts of plants are lacking in your backyard they’ll be forced to seek food and set up shop else where. And since it is a forest fragment, there may be a lot of insects crawling around that you don’t see, like ground beetles, wood boring insects, moths, flies, and the like.
I’d love to hear other opinions on the honey bee colony collapse hype and even the idea that Norris is proposing of other insects populations declining as well.
I’m not an entomologist, I’m a molecular biologist, but I work in the Entomological Sciences Program at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine in Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. I sometimes do mosquito and tick collections in the field to do DNA tests for things like West Nile and Lyme Disease. I’ve been in Maryland (commute from Pennsylvania) for the last 9 years. I’ve definitely noticed a drop in the number of flying insects especially the smaller ones. Maryland was extremely humid and moist in the spring and summer when I first arrived in 1998. I came from a dry cool Colorado so the difference was dramatic for me. In the last few years the climate here in the Susquehanna Valley has become much more Colorado-like where small flying insects are also in limited numbers. Maybe the cooler, drier local climate shift has affected the indigenous insects. Just a guess.