Quantifying rapidly declining abundance of insects in Europe using a paired experimental design
2020
Pape Møller, Anders | Ecologie, Société et Evolution (ex-Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution) (ESE) ; AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. The abundance of insects has decreased for the last decades in many parts of theworld although so far few studies have quantified this reduction because there haveonly been few baseline studies dating back decades that have allowed comparison ofancient and recent population estimates. Such a paired design is particularly powerfulbecause it reduces or eliminates bias caused by differences in identity and experienceof observers, identity of study sites, years, time of season, and time of day,and it ensures identity of sampling procedures. Here, I compiled information on thereduction in abundance of insects in Europe and Algeria by the same persons compilingthe abundance of insects from the same 21 study sites during 1951–1997 andagain a second time in 1998–2018. There was a reduction by 47% in the abundanceof insects. The difference in abundance in old compared to new samples declinedwith latitude, with a significant variance among taxa. This reduction in abundance ofinsects was of such a magnitude that it must have consequences for insectivores andthe role that insects play in ecosystems.
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