this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
30 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

47806 readers
1374 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Curious on some replies here. I always hear having bees go instinct would be horrible for us. Curious if that’s the worse?

all 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Humans, probably. Just look at the impact COVID had on the environment.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

Yeah, runaway global warming might not happen. Plant monocultures would begin to disappear. New invasive species wouldn’t happen, though existing ones might have a better time for a bit. Major thoroughfares wouldn’t create barriers to migration. Dams might take centuries to collapse, but I think humans going extinct might have one of the biggest impacts.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago

Ever wondered what happened to all these bugs on the car when driving through the countryside? There is already something big happening and we are just getting started.

Here is a talk on the topic of insects driven to the point of extinction due to neonicotinoid pesticides (unfortunately the talk is in german. Maybe someone is able to find a english version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_p9yYXZuCI

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Or the hounds? Or the hounds the when they bark, shoot bees out of their mouth?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

It's true, but Phytoplankton is not an animal.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Definitely the phytoplankton since it provides the bulk of Earth's oxygen production. Oxygen only exists because the ecosystem replenishes it. If all oxygen production stopped it would only take a few thousand years to deplete completely. Oxygen binds quickly with everything around it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Real answer here

[–] plum 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Humans going extinct would probably be the most beneficial.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

Bees probably

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Bees and coral are both great answers, but I’m going to go with spiders. The amount of smaller pest insects that spiders consume is definitely overlooked and without them just imagine the swarms of bugs that would aggregate during the summer months

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Humans going extinct would probably have an enormous impact.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Many species of flies are foundational in the food web.

flies are also great pollenators

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago