10.5061/DRYAD.CC2FQZ645
Crossley, Michael
0000-0003-3140-6620
University of Georgia
Meier, Amanda
University of Georgia
Baldwin, Emily
Hendrix College
Berry, Lauren
Hendrix College
Crenshaw, Leah
Hendrix College
Hartman, Glen
Agricultural Research Service
Lagos-Kutz, Doris
Agricultural Research Service
Nichols, David
Hendrix College
Patel, Krishna
Hendrix College
Varriano, Sofia
Hendrix College
Moran, Matthew
Hendrix College
Snyder, William
University of Georgia
No net insect abundance and diversity declines across US Long Term
Ecological Research sites
Dryad
dataset
2020
insect population
arthropod population
United States
United States Department of Agriculture
https://ror.org/01na82s61
NIFA-OREI 2015-51300-24155
United States Department of Agriculture
https://ror.org/01na82s61
NIFA-SCRI 2015-51181-24292
2020-07-21T00:00:00Z
2020-07-21T00:00:00Z
en
8739509 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Recent reports of dramatic declines in insect abundance suggest grave
consequences for global ecosystems and human society. Most evidence comes
from Europe, however, leaving uncertainty about insect population trends
worldwide. We used > 5,300 time series for insects and other
arthropods, collected over 4-36 years at monitoring sites representing 68
different natural and managed areas, to search for evidence of declines
across the United States. Some taxa and sites showed decreases in
abundance and diversity while others increased or were unchanged, yielding
net abundance and biodiversity trends generally indistinguishable from
zero. This lack of overall increase or decline was consistent across
arthropod feeding groups, and was similar for heavily disturbed versus
relatively natural sites. The apparent robustness of U.S. arthropod
populations is reassuring. Yet, this result does not diminish the need for
continued monitoring and could mask subtler changes in species composition
that nonetheless endanger insect-provided ecosystem services.
Data curated from NSF Long-Term Ecological Research Site public repositories.
R code used to curate and analyze data is included.