Bugs poised to flit into action for the season, P.E.I. scientist says

Humans aren't the only creatures that stay relatively hidden when the weather is lousy.

This spring's chilly and rainy weather sidelined insects too, but a Charlottetown-based research scientist says that will change quickly now that the mercury is rising.

"They tend to stay quiet when it's cold," Christine Noronha told CBC's Island Morning this week. "If this continues for very long, then it starts to have an impact on their survival and their movement."

Noronha works with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada. 

She said bug survival rates have been "a little bit better" recently because Prince Edward Island's winters have been getting milder. Even when the temperature plummets, bugs can find shelter in plant debris and snow that collects along hedgerows.  

"With the spring being so cool, the insects are a little bit slower coming out," she said. "They wouldn't be feeding as much as well, [or] just moving around too from plant to plant or from one area to the next. 

"But [when] it does warm up, then you'll start to see them feeding a lot more, moving, flying around, moving from plant to plant … and also laying their eggs." 

That's because insects don't generate their own body heat like humans and other mammals do, but depend on external heat sources, Noronha said.

"When the sun is shining, you will see some of them sitting in the sun or basking in the sun, kind of. They need that heat to heat up their … wing muscles so that they can fly.

"Usually around 15 to 20 degrees is when they start to get really active."

That can change even over the course of a single spring day, she said. 

Bumblebees, for example, are "kind of slow in the early morning when you see them, but then later on in the day, if it's sunny, they'll start moving around a lot more." 

Now for the bad news.

"Mosquitoes and black flies and all that are doing fine," Noronha said. "They have a lower temperature range, so they are fine. They are out there."