They then submitted a photo and count details via the Bugs Matter app and the data was converted into “splats per mile” to make it comparable between journeys.
Before making an essential journey in their vehicle, drivers cleaned their number plate, and afterwards counted the insects squashed on it using a “splatometer grid” supplied as part of the survey. The “Bugs Matter” survey asked members of the public to record the number of flying insects squashed on their number plate in 20, and compared it with data from a survey led by the RSPB using the same method in 2004. 1,300 prostate cancer deaths could be prevented if men lose weight - study.Counting insects estimates how they are faring in our towns and countryside but also shows how the wider natural world is doing. Now a survey led by Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife has attempted to quantify that and gather more data on what is happening to bugs in the UK, against a backdrop of global falls in the number of insects.īugs are crucial to a healthy functioning environment, pollinating most of the world’s crops, performing natural pest control, breaking down organic matter and returning nutrients into the soil, conservationists said. The “windscreen phenomenon” is anecdotal evidence from drivers that they collect fewer moths, flies, aphids, bees and flying beetles on their windscreens than they did in the past. Flying insect populations have declined by nearly 60% in under 20 years, say researchers who conducted a citizen science project asking people to count the number of squashed bugs on their car number plates.