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Q&A ViewAttendees 8

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Member Symposium

Early Career Professional Recognition Symposium

Ecoinformatics of declines and rebounds amidst the “Insect Apocalypse”

Tuesday, November 2, 2021
2:10 PM – 2:45 PM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 201-203
In-Person
Earth’s climate and land cover are changing rapidly, and consequences for insects are complex. In some places, insect populations are experiencing dramatic declines, endangering the crucial ecosystem services they provide. Yet, other populations appear robust, highlighting the need to better define patterns and underlying drivers of recent change in insect numbers. Here, using three vignettes I demonstrate how ecoinformatics, which synthesizes diverse data over broad spatial and temporal scales, is poised to elucidate responses of insect populations to rapid environmental change amidst what many have called an “Insect Apocalypse”. Using the North American Butterfly Association's citizen science dataset documenting 8 million butterflies representing 456 species, my team found hotspots of increase and decline that were largely explained by recent changes in climate. Leveraging observations from aphid monitoring networks in three world regions, we found the steepest declines among aphids that obligately alternate between host plants. Compiling a database of aquatic insect genetic diversity, we found decline and rebound associated with the historical expansion and contraction of croplands. Taken together, these findings illustrate how recent human-induced rapid environmental change is rebalancing the risks and rewards associated with complex insect life histories, and provide hope for recovery where the human footprint can be tempered. More generally, I propose that syntheses of data generated by the diverse community of scientists are essential to resolve controversy over the severity of global insect declines and to identify places and taxa where intervention will be most impactful.