"Insect Armageddon" hype and papers

[RatioTile]

I've been following media headlines and articles discussing the decline of insect abundance and diversity, because it's a really important topic, but I'm also having trouble telling fact from fiction and fact from exaggeration. Recently I came across the works of Dr. Dave Goulson in Sussex, England. He's built upon the media-dubbed "Insect Armageddon" paper by Dr. Sánchez Bayo for this report, and he claims that around half of all insect abundance has declined since the 1970s, a number I had never heard before. There are also many other startling numbers in this report.

https://www.somersetwildlife.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/FULL AFI REPORT WEB1_1.pdf

Any entomologists and conservationists here? What are your thoughts on this report, and the true extent of how threatened insects are? I'd like to know because the issue of insect decline has given me anxiety in the past year or so.

 

[birdsandbats]

This is possibly the biggest problem threatening wildlife today - arguably a bigger problem than climate change. The cause isn't completely understood, but I suspect it has something to do with the amount of non-native plants taking over native vegetation around the world. I recommend everyone plant native plants - as soon as possible and as many as possible - and remove as many non-native plants as you can from your property.

 

[lintworm]

This is possibly the biggest problem threatening wildlife today - arguably a bigger problem than climate change. The cause isn't completely understood, but I suspect it has something to do with the amount of non-native plants taking over native vegetation around the world. I recommend everyone plant native plants - as soon as possible and as many as possible - and remove as many non-native plants as you can from your property.

As an invasion scientist, I think it is highly unlikely invasive species are the main cause. Such insect declines are widely documented and the two biggest drivers seem to be habitat degradation and increasing land use intensity.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

invasion scientist

Most ominous job title ever?

 

[SharkFinatic]

As an invasion scientist, I think it is highly unlikely invasive species are the main cause. Such insect declines are widely documented and the two biggest drivers seem to be habitat degradation and increasing land use intensity.

Not to mention insecticides and pesticides in general.

 

[Giant Panda]

I've been following media headlines and articles discussing the decline of insect abundance and diversity, because it's a really important topic, but I'm also having trouble telling fact from fiction and fact from exaggeration. Recently I came across the works of Dr. Dave Goulson in Sussex, England. He's built upon the media-dubbed "Insect Armageddon" paper by Dr. Sánchez Bayo for this report, and he claims that around half of all insect abundance has declined since the 1970s, a number I had never heard before. There are also many other startling numbers in this report.

https://www.somersetwildlife.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/FULL AFI REPORT WEB1_1.pdf

Any entomologists and conservationists here? What are your thoughts on this report, and the true extent of how threatened insects are? I'd like to know because the issue of insect decline has given me anxiety in the past year or so.

The Sánchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys ("Insect Armageddon") paper is very controversial and deeply flawed. Most obviously, they used "decline" as a search term to identify papers. If you only search for studies where declines were observed, you're going to find that insects are declining. It's not science; it's a systematic bias.

That's not to say invert conservation isn't a major issue.

 

[Mr. Zootycoon]

Not to mention insecticides and pesticides in general.

These are particularly a problem for non-herbivorous species, which are generally less adapted to deal with toxic substances. Ironically, there are many cases of secondary pest outbreaks due to die-offs of natural enemies after appying pesticides.

Any entomologists and conservationists here? What are your thoughts on this report, and the true extent of how threatened insects are? I'd like to know because the issue of insect decline has given me anxiety in the past year or so.

Insect declines are very real and are happening on a massive scale. However, you should look at the papers themselves and see for yourself what the authors actually say. The media is terrible at reporting scientific findings.