75% of the flying insects on protected lands in Germany seem to have died over the past 27 years. Researchers aren’t sure what’s responsible for the decline, but say climate change probably isn’t to blame. Bird populations are now also on the decline. Bug researchers in Germany are puzzled. New data suggests the total population of flying insects there has declined a whopping 75% in the past 27 years. And no one knows why. A study released Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE details a longitudinal study by German researchers to measure “flying insect biomass” — the weight of all flying bugs — in 63 protected spots around the country. The scientists surveyed places like dunes, grasslands, and forests, using trapping tents to collect over 118 pounds of bugs over the 27 year period. They were expecting to find some population decreases, but this extreme decline, they said, is […]