Why are there so many more flies in Portugal this year than usual? – NiT
Why are there so many more flies in Portugal this year than usual?
The entire country, from north to south, was invaded by this plague of insects. It’s not your impression, it’s really happening.
Summer is getting longer this year: in mid-October, temperatures still invite meetings with friends on the terrace. It would all be perfect, if it weren’t for flies constantly chatting. They don’t kill, but grind — and are more capable of irritating even the calm ones. But, after all, why can these insects continue to multiply throughout the country?
It is nothing new that, with the heat, flies also arrive in abundance. The high temperatures facilitate the development of these insects and that is why they can be reproduced more easily in the summer period. In addition, the availability of food facilitates the development of small flying animals, the leftover food that loves our kitchens or garbage accumulating on the streets.
They are usually hell in the summer, but in the fall they will usually protect themselves from the cold. However, that is not what is happening this year and the flies remain hyperactive from the north to the south of the country. — and much is due to the high temperatures of October, which promote the reproduction of this insect.
“Everyone has seen high temperatures, it’s still always hot and there hasn’t been a big drop in temperature or a continuous rain, which can delay the development of flies. When it starts to get cold, they lower their activity and do not reproduce in the same way”, explains NiT Filipe Nunes, researcher at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
With the absence of cold, the development of species is faster, which means that “there are more and more flies”. What we don’t know is that there is a very large diversity of species within the group of insects.
“Those flies that are all complaining are the ones we have the most in the house. House flies, blowflies and fruit flies, which are the tiniest.”inform the specialist. And he adds: “Initially, these species will do well in urban environments and tend to enter homes and, if there is food, this attracts much more”.
The housefly is already normal to roam around the house, but like blowflies, which are distinguished by their metallic appearance, they are mainly distinguished by domestic animals and spoiled meat. Another factor that can attract the dead, “are the animals in the ducts that we don’t see at home”.
José Paulo Martins, from Associação Zero, also believes that this plague that has invaded the country is due to the climate and to the fact that the flies’ natural predators, such as swallows, have already flown to Africa. These predators feed on a few grams of insects a day. — it may not seem like much, but after a few days there are thousands of insects —, but fly to warmer countries at the end of summer in Portugal. On the other hand, flies, unlike this type of predator, “do not migrate”.
“As the pre-data are no longer in a position to stay the same as in the summer, they are able to develop further. The accumulated garbage can also influence”, says the environmentalist.
Despite having felt in these insects in the capital, the Lisbon Chamber, in statements to NiT, that “the phenomenon of the appearance of flies was a phenomenon that happened throughout the territory and is associated with an increase that the above-average rise in the month October throughout the mainland.
Part exclusively of nature, such as very irritating flies, they also play a role in nutrient recycling, reusing all that remains of organic material, helping in the decomposition of corpses and waste, feeding on this highlighted material”, Filipe Lopes.
On the other hand, when these species appear in large numbers and in an urban environment, they are seen as a pest and can even have a negative impact, as they can transmit pathogens such as bacteria or viruses.
“When they dump garbage or decaying organic material, they can carry the microbes and then affect our food, bringing the disease that is present. With more flies, the possibility of this transmission happening is greater”, says the researcher.
The only way to get rid of these insects is to wait for a prolonged period of rain to come. “No autarchy, in an urban context, or any of the environmental objectives and regarding public and animal health policies, can compulsorily combat this phenomenon of any kind, any type of use of pesticides or chemical or chemical products. This is an unwanted phenomenon, but nature is a municipal phenomenon”, says the Lisbon City Council.