The second being to mitigate the accumulation of insects around my campsite.
While it is true that insect populations world wide have been impacted by the commercial deployment of pesticides by large agricultural operations, it is not true that populations outside that particular affect are negatively affected. Insects, as a fauna, have an extraordinarily effective reproductive cycle relative to the natural hazards they encounter every day.
The most recent article about excess honeybee populations was a good example of how honeybees that are outside of the risk zone are not in any danger of becoming extinct but can and do displace important local pollinators.
A non-persistent local light trap is the ideal mitigation strategy for insects in a particular regions because it leaves no lasting footprint, doesn't contaminate the food chain, and has zero net impact on the overall population density of the insects.
Essentially you are saying that bug zappers actually exasperate the problem they are trying to solve and it would be better to not use one?
I haven't figured out the sweetspot for attractant trap placement yet. It's not inside or attached to your camp or house.
But I know that cold, dry, nonstressed deaths for those that do intrude minimizes the ultimate number that invade via that route. Don't heat them, including by cleaning then up with a standard vacuum.
Interesting facts (according to me): their smell that attracts others is one of those like asparagus, that only some people seem to sense.
But to me smells like burning peanut butter toast crossed with a kaolin/ clay.
Also they hate vibrations/ noise and will aggressively attack and bite in retaliation.
You have a Yoko Ono infestation?
When you kill all those bugs in the first hour of the night, does that leave a noticeable excess-food signal in the region where the dead bugs use to be?
That suggests another interesting test which would be to use a bunch of rope lights to create a complete circle around your site to disrupt all bug flights going in or out of your area. Presumably it could create a higher density at the perimeter of disrupted bugs.
A bug Faraday cage. Neat. Though it could reduce the ambiance of camping by limiting the view of the stars.
If this was your house, maybe, okay. However, when you go camping, you are technically a guest in the bug's house.
But what about kudzo?
> Kudzu, a perennial vine native to Japan and China, was first introduced into the USA in 1876 and was actively promoted by the government as a “wonderplant", It expanded to cover over 1 million ha by 1946 and well over 2 million ha today. When Kudzu invades a forest, it prevents the growth of young hardwoods and kills off other plants. Kudzu causes damage to powerlines, and even overwhelms homes, Kudzu has invaded important protected areas, requiring significant investment of management resources, The management response to date outside the protected areas has been insufficient to deal with this very significant threat.
Sounds like an asshole to me.
Is the OP killing them because s/he has no other alternative to feed himself/herself, or is it because of the annoyance even though s/he is in their habitat?
But defining "the health" of an ecosystem is tricky. An invading invasive species is better adapted after all, and it is part of nature.
We need clearer understanding of what we mean by nature and what we are protecting. Are we just trying to hold on to some moment of time in a dynamic ecosystem? Maybe. Protecting the status quo might be practical in terms of human survival, but this doesn't feel like a moral invariant that some people hold it up to be.
All this said, I feel a deep connection with nature, and I recognize this most likely comes from us evolving alongside it. But I recognize my own bias; I care less about mosquitos and more about birds.
Why would you do that ? I understand the science process but if you do this in an hardly reproductible environment (x setup in y location with z group of fauna), how can this confirm anything useful ?
> The second being to mitigate the accumulation of insects around my campsite.
Another reply recommend to use yellow light bulbs, that may also do the trick
Sorry, these light traps you’re using are a natural phenomena the bugs have evolved to be effective against with breeding? Can you elaborate on that line of training?
This has not being happening anymore for a 2 decades...
What about turning lights off around your house a night do they don’t come near you and forget the oil ? You can live in harmony with insects.
I do not hold the same opinion on disease carrying insects. They, regrettably, must be eliminated where people live. It's unclear which insects op is intending to kill. Around here such a campsite trap would net almost exclusively mosquitoes, which count as disease vectors to my eyes.
They will do everything in their power to kill and eat you and give you diseases.
We do need them but harmless? Mother Nature is anything but harmless.
tl;dr: global warming
Even in the late 90's, I must've brought a pregnant tick into the house with me, there were scores of them in my room one summer.
I now live in Anchorage Alaska -- and while there are no deer ticks, ticks that bite dogs have been steadily moving up the coast and are now here.
So I agree about numbers and range extending, but not the timeline you mention. Those suckers were everywhere on the east coast 30 years ago.
- Deer populations are increasing.
- There are no winter killoffs due to warming temperatures.
- Invasive plants like Japanese barberry are becoming extremely common and create microclimates that support mice that ticks live on before attaching to deer.
I believe some tick-borne diseases are becoming more common - I know two people that have had babesiosis, and one person and one dog with anaplasmosis. One of the babesiosis cases was not caught by the hospital in the first go-around and required a blood exchange and almost 2 months in the hospital and rehab.
There is a new invasive insect called the deer ked [0] that crawls like the girl from The Ring and may be a new vector for tick diseases (and they fly!).
Highly recommend checking out the CDC on tick-borne diseases [1], using DEET/permethrin [2] (no permethrin with cats, though), and doing tick checks if you spend time outside.
[0]: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/index.html
Babeosis is stil rare in the northern US.
When you go to a hospital due to a suspected tick bite, keep in mind the standard tick panel does NOT include babeosis screening
You must do a full panel (some 26 tests) in order to detect it. These are often not available in most vet offices.
Babeosis is extremely common in the tropical climate of LATAM. If you take your dog there, and he comes back to the US sick , Consider that your US hospital may be dealing with an exotic disease (unlike LATAM, where this would be a dime a dozen)
I've used those anti-insect yellow lights in all fittings outside my house for years and they dramatically reduce the number and type of all insects, including spiders, hanging about.
On a summer night, you'll see it being full of insects after 1 hour of operation.
We used to have them in a lab I worked in and occasionally a larger insect (e.g. wasp) would get caught between two rows of the grid and you'd hear it spark / them cook...
Is also why I started putting up bird feeders and nesting areas -- they control insects including the mosquitoes, and after seeing just how many were out there...
Bats can contort to fit almost any hole in the house. They are effectively tiny mice.
And just like nice, they make noises with their claws when they get into the walls (they will ryn when not airborne and quite fast too)
And their poop will bring hordes of cockroaches....