Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts

Wagner, David L.; Grames, Eliza M.; Forister, Matthew L.; Berenbaum, May R.; Stopak, David

doi:10.1073/pnas.2023989118

Cited by 1,223 publications

(653 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Longer insect activity periods may buffer against phenological mismatch of insects interacting with other trophic levels, as long as insect abundance is sufficiently high. However, mounting evidence suggests widespread terrestrial insect declines (van Klink et al, 2020;Wagner et al, 2021;Warren et al, 2021), which raises the threat of reduced ecological services regardless of how much synchrony occurs between interacting species.…”

Section: Ecological Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These services include dung burial, pest control, pollination, and wildlife nutrition and are valued at over $57 billion annually in the United States (Losey and Vaughan, 2006). Further, several recent papers have reported dramatic declines in insect populations (Hallmann et al, 2020;Wagner, 2020), potentially due to human-caused land-use change, climate change, introduced species, and pollution (Wagner et al, 2021). Phenological shifts may exacerbate losses due to mismatches, but might provide a means to adapt to warmer temperatures and could even lead to overall population growth rates, particularly in species that can successfully add a generation due to extended growing seasons (Kerr et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate drivers of adult insect activity are conditioned by life history traits

Belitz

Barve

Doby

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Insect phenological lability is key for determining which species will adapt under environmental change. However, little is known about when adult insect activity terminates, and overall activity duration. We used community-science and museum specimen data to investigate the effects of climate and urbanization on timing of adult insect activity for 101 species varying in life history traits. We found detritivores and species with aquatic larval stages extend activity periods most rapidly in response to increasing regional temperature. Conversely, species with subterranean larval stages have relatively constant durations regardless of regional temperature. Multivoltine and univoltine species both extended their period of adult activity similarly in warmer conditions. Longer adult durations may represent a general response to warming, but voltinism data in subtropical environments is likely underreported. This effort provides a framework to address drivers of adult insect phenology at continental scales, and a basis for predicting species response to environmental change.

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Section: Ecological Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate drivers of adult insect activity are conditioned by life history traits

Belitz

Barve

Doby

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Importantly, they noted that, with current and predicted climate change, there is a very real possibility that seasonal insect migrations will be lost before they are documented. Clearly, there is an urgency, then, to document or describe insect migrations in concert with increased attention to declining insect numbers [10,11]. In addition, the concept of migratory connectivity been only applied to insect migration very recently [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of Six Species of Butterflies Migrating through Northeastern Mexico: New Insights from Stable Isotope (δ2H) Analyses and a Call for Documenting Butterfly Migrations

2021

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Determining migratory connectivity within and among diverse taxa is crucial to their conservation. Insect migrations involve millions of individuals and are often spectacular. However, in general, virtually nothing is known about their structure. With anthropogenically induced global change, we risk losing most of these migrations before they are even described. We used stable hydrogen isotope (δ2H) measurements of wings of seven species of butterflies (Libytheana carinenta, Danaus gilippus, Phoebis sennae, Asterocampa leilia, Euptoieta claudia, Euptoieta hegesia, and Zerene cesonia) salvaged as roadkill when migrating in fall through a narrow bottleneck in northeast Mexico. These data were used to depict the probabilistic origins in North America of six species, excluding the largely local E. hegesia. We determined evidence for long-distance migration in four species (L. carinenta, E. claudia, D. glippus, Z. cesonia) and present evidence for panmixia (Z. cesonia), chain (Libytheana carinenta), and leapfrog (Danaus gilippus) migrations in three species. Our investigation underlines the utility of the stable isotope approach to quickly establish migratory origins and connectivity in butterflies and other insect taxa, especially if they can be sampled at migratory bottlenecks. We make the case for a concerted effort to atlas butterfly migrations using the stable isotope approach.

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“…While such statements in recent years have mostly been based on summary studies of the most diverse vertebrate groups (e.g., [2,3]), insects have only become the focus of (public) interest in recent years. Despite the fact that there are more than a million described species of insects (and bearing in mind that another 4.5 to 7 million remain unnamed [4]), time-series data on e.g., ecological aspects and taxonomic nature of insect population trends are rare, compared to vertebrates, and often focused on certain groups of specialized taxa like agriculturally important species [5]. Nevertheless, recent reports have shown a dramatic loss in the biomass of flying insects over a period of less than 30 years [6,7] and sharp declines in the abundance of various insect groups [8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?

Amendt

2021

Insects

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Recent reports have shown a dramatic loss in insect species and biomass. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question is whether this decline effects the discipline. The present review confirms that numerous studies document insect population declines or even extinction, despite the fact that the rates of decline and the methods used to demonstrate it are still much debated. However, with regard to a decline in necrophagous insects, there is little or only anecdotal data available. A hypothetical decrease in species diversity and population density in necrophagous insects could lead to a delayed colonization of dead bodies and a modified succession pattern due to the disappearance or new occurrence of species or their altered seasonality. Climate change as one of the drivers of insect decline will probably also have an impact on necrophagous insects and forensic entomology, leading to reduced flight and oviposition activity, modified growth rates and, therefore, an over- or underestimation of a minimum postmortem interval. Global warming with increased temperature and extreme weather requires a better understanding about necrophagous insect responses to environmental variations. Here, transgeneration effects in particular should be analysed in greater depth as this will help to understand rapid adaptation and plasticity in insects of forensic importance.

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Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts

Cited by 1,223 publications

References 70 publications

Climate drivers of adult insect activity are conditioned by life history traits

Climate drivers of adult insect activity are conditioned by life history traits

Origins of Six Species of Butterflies Migrating through Northeastern Mexico: New Insights from Stable Isotope (δ2H) Analyses and a Call for Documenting Butterfly Migrations

Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?

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