Saad 1 Kamal Saad Professor Emma Moghabghab English 203 14 March 2021 The windshield phenomenon: an insect apocalypse Insects are one of the oldest creatures on earth, having appeared in the Ordovician era, some 485.4 million years ago (Holland, par.1). They were the first living creatures to develop the ability to fly, which gave them the propensity to conquer the world (Eggleton, 63). They are everywhere. We see them daily, whether moths eating our clothes in our closets and drawers, or ants feeding on the piece of bread that fell on the ground, or flies hovering above our food, or even beetles stridulating in the forests. However, there is one thing that is not mentioned: insects smashing into the windshields of cars. In fact, if we ask any of our parents or any older generation about it, they can affirm that insects used to smash into the cars’ windshields. Nowadays, this event, known as the windshield phenomenon, is uncommon and even non-existent. To explain this phenomenon, writer Gretchen Vogel presented in her text “Where Have All the Insects Gone?” published in Pages Apart, the causes, effects, and some statistics and facts about the windshield phenomenon. Moreover, she made an effective use of anecdotes, scientific facts, and statistics to support her ideas. So, what are the causes she elaborates? What are the effects of such a phenomenon? And is there any reliable data that justifies its causes and effects? In the first place, Gretchen Vogel presented the causes of the windshield phenomenon. In her second paragraph, she made use of the common fact that the aerodynamism of modern cars is the cause of the decrease in the number of insects colliding with cars. She then refuted the latter Saad 2 idea by implementing the utterance of the entomologist Martin Sorg in which he says that his Land Rover -a car that have bad aerodynamics- stays clean nowadays (Vogel, par.2). As a matter of fact, this decline in insects smashing into cars’ windshields reflects a bigger problem: the decline in insects’ populations worldwide. The latter is not due to good aerodynamics but, as Vogel stated later in her writing, it may be caused by the land modifications and the use of pesticides. To that effect, she brings up the idea that the collapse has been partially caused by the loss of “huge amounts of habitat” (Vogel, par.15). In fact, as the human population is growing, we are constantly transforming the natural territory of insects into agricultural fields to grow crops to feed the population. As a support to that, Vogel clearly stated that “If we turn all the seminatural habitats to wheat and cornfields, then there will be virtually no life in those fields” (Vogel, par.15). Furthermore, drainage is sometimes needed to turn lands into agricultural fields, leaving the aquatic insects without a habitat, and resulting in a decrease in their population (Eggleton, 70). In the second place, after turning lands into farmlands, farmers usually use to keep insects away and ensure a good yield (Eggleton, 70). The pesticides that are used affect the communication and navigation systems of the insects (Vogel, par.16). Author Gretchen Vogel suspects the use of pesticides, and specifically the neonicotinoid pesticides which are known to be “already implicated in the widespread crash of bee populations” (Vogel, par.16). These pesticides emerged in the 1980s and are mostly used nowadays since they are thought to be harmless due to the fact that they can be “applied directly to seeds rather than sprayed” (Vogel, par.16) on the grown plants. But the problem is that they are water soluble, which make them more apt to disperse and infect areas surrounding the field in which they are used. In order to support this claim, Gretchen Vogel presented a 2015 finding by Dave Goulson, an ecologist at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, and his colleagues. The latter claimed that “nectar and pollen from wildflowers next to Saad 3 treated fields can have higher concentrations of neonicotinoids than the crop plants.” (Vogel, par.16). In the third place, Vogel talked about the effects of the decline in insects’ populations. She first referred to a finding by the Krefeld Entomological Society that revealed an 80% loss in the total mass of insects in one of their trapping sites in Germany in 2013, which they confirmed in 2014 after resampling (Vogel par.5). Then, she stated the effects of this loss on the food chain by presenting a staggering example given by Dave Goulson, which stated that insect-eating birds living in that area lost four fifth of their food in the last 25 years (Vogel, par.6). If insect-eating birds run short on food, their population decrease may as well. As a result, their predators will be deprived of food which will threatens their existence and lower their numbers. This process goes all the way up the food chain and lead to an unbalance in the ecosystem. In addition to that, insects affect humans in various ways: they play a major role in agriculture as pollinators and act as a pest control. For instance, honey bees are considered the number one pollinator in the world with a contribution of around $4,205 million in Europe back in 2002, along moths and butterflies, wasps, and flies that are not considered as important but still have a significant contribution (Eggleton, 66). Furthermore, insects, and more specifically hymenopteran and coleopteran predators and parasitoids, are considered as pest control since they feed on pest (Eggleton, 66). Meanwhile, the actual shrink in insects’ populations may influence the pollination as well as the pest control roles of insects. Moreover, it may also cause the death of vertebrates, which is a serious issue that must not be neglected (Vogel, par.26). Last but not least, Gretchen Vogel underlined the fact that there exist very few reliable data about important insect species. Furthermore, Joe Nocera, an ecologist at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, said: “We have a pretty good track record of ignoring most noncharismatic Saad 4 species” (Vogel, par.3). In addition, Vogel said in her fourth paragraph that the majority of the records were collected by amateur naturalists like butterfly collectors. Hence, little data is available for this subject. Later in her text, Vogel proposed how scientists at Rothamsted Research, an agricultural research center in Harpenden, U.K., collected data in the past by operating “a system of suction traps— 12-meter-long suction tubes pointing skyward” (Vogel, par.19) that worked like “upside-down Hoovers running 24/7” (Vogel, par.19) as James Bell has said. However, nowadays, entomologists regret not setting up more traps in the last two or three decades because they need data from the past to compare new evidence with old ones to identify the causes of such a phenomenon (Vogel, par.25). Finally, there exist “no data on insecticide levels, especially in nature reserves” (Vogel, par.18) due to the difficulty of tracking the pesticides. This lack of data implies the idea that “it is hard to estimate the historical decline of insects” (Eggleton, 67). Therefore, we cannot make clear assertions about the causes and effects of the drastic drop in insects’ populations. In conclusion, land changes and the use of pesticides may cause the decline in insects’ populations. This decline may affect the food chain and the human agriculture as well as the biodiversity, even though the causes and effects are still unacknowledged due to the lack of evidence. The main thrust of Vogel’s argument is a very effective use of facts, statistics, coupled with vivid examples, and expert opinions, which sustains the implication of ethos and logos into the text. By presenting facts and statistics rather than just personal opinion, the author empowered the reader to connect the dots on his own, which in turn gives them ownership over the argument and makes it more persuasive. Saad 5 Works Cited Holland, Steven M. “Ordovician Period.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11 Feb. 2021, www.britannica.com/science/Ordovician-Period. Vogel, Gretchen. “Where Have All the Insects Gone?” Pages Apart. E-book, edited by Abir Ward, Heba Hodeib, Kathryn Lincoln, Emma Moghabghab, Rima Rantisi, and Zane Siraj Sinno, Center for Educational Consultation and Research: Educart, 2018, par.1-26. Eggleton, Paul. “The State of the World’s Insects.” Annual Review of Environment & Resources, vol. 45, Oct. 2020, pp. 61–82. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012420-050035.
