Susan's Place Transgender Resources

This isn't meant to be controversial or a scientific study and not a political statement but some observations from our members who are scattered throughout the world and only if you are interested.

I was interested in what may have changed climate wise - not local weather events but longer term ( say 10 year events that are highly unusual)- and nature wise, animal numbers, insect numbers (I'm particularly interested in insect numbers and very interested in spider numbers), bird numbers, that sort of thing. 

In Adelaide we have just had out hottest summer on record (150 years) and the average temperature over the last 10 has increased by about a 1C. I have noticed a decrease in insect numbers, this is even being seen by people not having to clear their windscreens as often! There appears a decrease in some migratory insects particularly moths. I'm also seeing a decrease in spider numbers which is interesting as they are end chain predators.

Anyone else have observations?

And please no argument over political stance on climate change etc, I'm interested in citizen observation of things we may not be aware of.

I wonder how the average rainfall has tracked against this temperature increase. Seasonal rain usually has a huge impact on insect numbers from season to season.

Consistently hot and dry seems to really obliterate insect numbers.

I can anecdotally say that in the Top End long drawn out Wet Seasons produce many more spiders & insects.

My unscientific observations, Kirsten [emoji3074][emoji887][emoji888]


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I think not much has changed here in the sub tropics.  But up north, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, it changed quite a bit.  Winters are shorter, there are still real deep freeze days, but not as it used to be in the 70's that the winters had 2 to 3 weeks in a row that the temps did not reach Zer.  Now it is a few days only.  And winter starts later now.  Summers seem to be wetter, not warmer, but way more rain and serviere weather.

Here is an article I wrote for a local monthly paper on Denman Island, BC, back in 2009:

QuoteRecently, I was examining various weather records to see if I could calculate the average length of the frost-free period on Denman Island.  Between Environment Canada's historical records and my own recent observations, I was able to get intermittent data going back to 1960.

When I examined the data, I was startled to notice that there was a huge difference between the frost free period in the 1960s and now.  In the early 1960s, it averaged about 165 days, compared to about 230 days in recent years.

Before jumping to conclusions, I noted that there were major gaps in the records.  Perhaps there was some statistical thing happening due to the small sample size and lack of continuity.  Furthermore, the records were made at different locations.  Environment Canada's records appear to have been made at locations on Lacon and East Roads, and mine are at Pickles Road.  We all know about how the effects of micro-climate can give different locations completely different weather.  Perhaps that was skewing the results.

To get a better handle on whether I was seeing a real effect, I looked up the records for the Comox airport, which are continuous back to 1944.  Being an official weather station, the Comox records have few gaps, and all were made at the same location. 

The result confirmed what I had suspected.  The frost-free period at Comox has increased steadily from an average of about 170 days in 1945 to 220 days in 2003, the last year for which I have the Comox data.  What I was seeing was neither a statistical blip nor an effect of micro-climate.  It was a real trend.

The frost-free period is an extremely sensitive indicator of temperature changes.  So, a consistent trend in the length of the frost-free period is an indication of a trend in temperature.  Similar trends have been observed in other parts of the world.

It may be too soon to plant banana trees outdoors, but we are already experiencing the effects of climate change here on Denman Island.

We first visited Glacier National Park in 1975 and posed at several photo points to capture the moment and majesty.  40 years later we returned and found the glaciers had vanished or shrunk by at least half. 

It's a good time to be a meteorologist with records of all kinds being broken daily but the facts are clear.  Unassailable data and hard science clearly indicate a planet in peril.

Not content to take humanity over the edge, we are also responsible for the sixth mass extinction of most life on earth.

Love your children, family, community and furry animals?  Climate change is the number one threat to ALL LIFE on earth!

The time for action is NOW!

17/18 and 18/19. Two of the mildest winters in memory here in Denver Colorado.
I'm 60.

Mid  Atlantic East Coast here. We have so many more cloudy and rainy days here than before. Also, I noticed a difference when flying the last time. When I flew as a child, the skies seemed clearer than now. Now there always seems to be a greyness towards the horizons even on a bright day. This is anecdotal of course, but it really seems different.

Northern California: Our drought/rain cycles have been more intense in the most recent two, over roughly the past decade, than in previous periods on record.  The record isn't that long...

This has resulted in weakening of many of our forest trees, particularly pine, which in turn has produced a surge in borer beetle populations, which in turn have produced a dieoff in pine forests.  When combined with extended dry seasons particularly in the past several years, this has led to a longer and more severe fire season.  We have had winter forest fires the previous two winters, well past the formal end of our fire season.

I noticed a real lack of flies this summer and was not continually doing the "Great Aussie salute"

Quote from: LizK on March 12, 2019, 03:00:57 AM
I noticed a real lack of flies this summer and was not continually doing the "Great Aussie salute"

Try catching enough to feed Esmerelda!

We travel between Melbourne and Geelong and have noticed significantly less bug marks on the car, and a lot less mozzies. But, we are in a drought, and less rain equals less insects. We have been living in our current house for nearly 20 years, and until recently, never felt the need for air conditioning, but we are now shopping for a unit. Not so much because it's hotter, but because there are longer periods of hot days.

Allie

I've asked older people, family members etc. if they thought the climate was changing. Everyone has said yes, they think the seasons now "begin later" and the weather is more erratic than it was in their youth.

I've noticed certain invasive species increase in number in the UK over my lifetime. When I was a kid I didn't see Fallopia japonica all over the place, now it's very common and very hard to get rid of. DEFRA seem to think introducing a Japanese beetle to these islands that eats it will get rid of it. The same can be said of Dysdera crocata, that I first saw when I was 15 years old and now see everywhere, including a new melanistic variety that seems more common than the original. That said, I don't think this is down to climate but to a lack of natural predators and a habit of propagating both vegetatively and sexually in the case of Knotweed, and the natural highly aggressive behavior of Dysdera crocata gives it an advantage over native spiders and prey. Catch one in a bottle and the hyperactivity and aggression of these spiders is evident when compared to any native British spider.

I see a lot more crows around, again I put this down to the ability of crows to adapt well to any temperate environment above anything else. I have seen a decline in seagulls. I remember as a child visiting the area I live in now and seeing more seagulls. Seagulls do feed on fish which have been depleted in some UK waters but again the seagulls will also feed on landfill and tourist handouts, and they have not been supplanted by any other bird species in the area so the lack of them isn't easily explained. A disease perhaps.

I have noticed far less mosquitoes than when I was a child, despite living near a body of water now, which while personally welcome may be impacting the local ecology. I don't think I've suffered a single mosquito bite in years despite some hot humid summers.

I grew up in the North West and this is the South West with a distinctive ecology and geography set apart. The area I'm in at the moment does appear to be very healthy (it's a protected coastline) and I've heard certain rare birds and insects have returned to the area. Since I dive quite a bit I have noticed some interesting blooms of jellyfish lately that is out of the ordinary (such as several thousand Man O Wars ending up on our coast due to storms, this is not normal) but I've not been living here long enough for any subtle changes in marine flora/fauna to be obvious to me. Judging by the roadkill numbers there seem to still be plenty of fox, badger, rabbit, pheasant hedgehog, deer etc. being supported by the land.

Living on the coast, the weather is consistently changeable; it's when it gets inland that it appears to people to have changed - longer periods of rain causing flooding or longer spells of sun causing drought, which doesn't affect my area as much as others. You can generally tell when something is abnormal, since the UK councils are always totally unprepared for it, be it a drought, gale or a snowfall.

If I had a garden, I'd no doubt be able to see some changes there if any, but I don't - all I can do is observe what I see when out walking the area. The Cornwall area is known for moors, gorse and heather, so it's a fairly specific habitat with it's own population of adders, slow worms, lizards, etc. which don't occur elsewhere in the country. I've noticed some insects I've never seen before here like the Hummingbird Hawk moth, which don't normally hang out in the UK but prefer the Med. Could be a sign things are warming up here. The area's seen an increase in birds of prey which certainly means their prey - usually smaller birds - are increasing. 

Here in South Korea, we had the record hottest summer last year, and all people were well educated on climate change. They say climate change is no longer an exotic story at remote sites such as polar bears in the Arctic and glaciers in the Antarctic: It is happening here right now, impacting everybody.

I have published several scientific papers on climate change, and once participated in writing a assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Two scientists from Australia leaded our team. You can see me in the photo at the following link: https://climateanalytics.org/blog/2018/authors-from-vulnerable-nations-in-ipcc-reports/

barbie~~

Going back to Cindy's original post about insects, the scientific literature on the decline of insects correlated with climate change is growing.  Here's some work from Puerto Rico that shows some

https://www.pnas.org/content/115/44/E10397

Barbie - "where is Waldo?"


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This winter was wetter than normal and we actually got snow. Summers are hot here, but last summer wasn't the worst it's been in the 7 years I've been in AZ.


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Quote from: anne_indy on March 12, 2019, 08:24:28 PM
Barbie - "where is Waldo?"

I am here!
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7886/32423972627_1fb52b9c3c_b.jpg

barbie~~

Now I see you. Much clearer in your pic.


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