Global insect populations are declining across many different lineages and environments
In short: A review of global insect data found that populations are declining across flying, ground, and aquatic lineages. While much of the existing data comes from well-studied regions like Europe, researchers have noted faunal losses in Asia, North America, the Arctic, and the Neotropics, suggesting that these declines are a widespread phenomenon affecting diverse ecosystems.
Understanding these declines is critical because even abundant species play vital roles in anchoring trophic interactions and providing essential ecosystem services. The review identifies several drivers, including habitat destruction, agricultural intensification, climate change, and invasive species.
The assessment also highlights less common threats like atmospheric nitrification from fossil fuel combustion and changing precipitation patterns. However, because the true geographic extent and magnitude of these declines remain largely unknown, more monitoring is needed to pinpoint specific causal factors.
Why it matters: Monitoring insect populations across ecological gradients is urgent to identify the specific causes of their decline.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Wagner (2019). Insect Declines in the Anthropocene. Annual Review of Entomology. · cc-by-sa
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