Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away to Your Disappearing Home

by Lisa Poisso · 2010-07-29 12:30:00 UTC
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It's not only the bees that seem to be buzzing off these days. When was the last time you had a ladybug buzz gently onto your hand on a soft summer day? It was just last summer when I first realized that my daughter isn't growing up with the same affectionate relationship with these cute little bugs as I did as a child — and scientists are noticing the absence of ladybugs, too. Over the past 20 years, the ladybug population of North America has begun shifting. But where are they going?

Ladybugs are beneficial insects that gobble up other insect pests that would otherwise harm crops.  "Without the ladybugs and beneficial insects out there, we wouldn't be able to grow the crops we do now," explains entomologist John Losey. "If you did, you'd have to use so much more pesticides, so we'd have more pollution in the area. In a lot of cases, there aren't pesticide alternatives."

It's bad enough for both crops and ecosystems when nature's insect exterminators like ladybugs and bats (and pollinators like bees) disappear. But when the "solution" to keep food growing without them is to dump more chemicals in the environment, the impact on birds and other wildlife gets even worse.

To figure out why so many formerly common types of ladybugs seem to be pulling a vanishing act, Losey has rallied Americans to document their own ladybug sightings by sending photographs to the Lost Ladybug Project. By patching together a picture of which species are being spotted where, Losey hopes to be able to determine whether the vanishing ladybug populations are getting sick, being pushed out by foreign ladybug species or simply moving to other places.

As of July 29, 2010, Americans have contributed 7,191 photos of various ladybugs to the tracking effort. To spot these spotted bugs, look in meadows or wildflowers, especially milkweed plants, roses or sticky plants that attract aphids. If you like these single ladies, you shoulda put a photo on it — so send yours in!

Photo credit: Dan Zen

Lisa Poisso is an award-winning parenting and family writer who has written about green issues for years.
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