Declines in insect abundance and diversity: We know enough to act now

By M. Forister, E. Pelton, S. Black. Conservation Science and Practice, 2019

281 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Recent regional reports and trends in biomonitoring suggest that insects are experiencing a multicontinental crisis that is apparent as reductions in abundance, diversity, and biomass. Given the centrality of insects to terrestrial ecosystems and the food chain that supports humans, the importance of addressing these declines cannot be overstated. The scientific community has understandably been focused on establishing the breadth and depth of the phenomenon and on documenting factors causing insect declines. In parallel with ongoing research, it is now time for the development of a policy consensus that will allow for a swift societal response. We point out that this response need not wait for full resolution of the many physiological, behavioral, and demographic aspects of declining insect populations. To these ends, we suggest primary policy goals summarized at scales from nations to farms to homes.

Subfields: Insect Science, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a17741f53b098274a7ce69a05daf1c4c70717761

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Citations in the corpus

Insect responses to global change offer signposts for biodiversity and conservation (2020, background): “, 2020) and the priorities for conservation and mitigation (Forister et al., 2019; Habel et al., 2019a; Harvey et al., 2020).”
Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction (2020, unknown): “Millions of populations have vanished in the last 100 y, with most people unaware of their loss (16); such losses have become extremely severe in the last few decades (13 – 20, 31, 32).”
Further evidence for a global decline of the entomofauna (2020, background): “We already know enough to be worried (Forister et al. 2019) and have science‐based ‘no regret’ solutions at hand to immediately mitigate several of the key drivers (Bale et al. 2008; Gurr et al. 2017; Pretty et al. 2018).”
Interpreting insect declines: seven challenges and a way forward (2020, background): “For the vanishingly small proportion of these in which conservation risk has been evaluated (e.g. Langor, 2019), the status and trends are at least as sobering as they are for vertebrate species (Dirzo et al., 2014; Forister et al., 2019).”
Insect Declines in the Anthropocene. (2020, background): “It will be imperative to identify ways to increase crop yields while at the same time adopting more sustainable practices that are more nature friendly, elevate diversity, and bolster the ecosystem services of insects (44, 102).”
Is the insect apocalypse upon us? How to find out (2020, background): “of the planet, and we know enough to take conservation action (Basset and Lamarre, 2019; Janzen and Hallwachs, 2019; Forister et al., 2019).”