Interpreting insect declines: seven challenges and a way forward
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F20%3A43901269" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/20:43901269 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/60077344:_____/20:00524584
Result on the web
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/icad.12408" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/icad.12408</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/icad.12408" target="_blank" >10.1111/icad.12408</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Interpreting insect declines: seven challenges and a way forward
Original language description
Many insect species are under threat from the anthropogenic drivers of global change. There have been numerous well-documented examples of insect population declines and extinctions in the scientific literature, but recent weaker studies making extreme claims of a global crisis have drawn widespread media coverage and brought unprecedented public attention. This spotlight might be a double-edged sword if the veracity of alarmist insect decline statements do not stand up to close scrutiny. We identify seven key challenges in drawing robust inference about insect population declines: establishment of the historical baseline, representativeness of site selection, robustness of time series trend estimation, mitigation of detection bias effects, and ability to account for potential artefacts of density dependence, phenological shifts and scale-dependence in extrapolation from sample abundance to population-level inference. Insect population fluctuations are complex. Greater care is needed when evaluating evidence for population trends and in identifying drivers of those trends. We present guidelines for best-practise approaches that avoid methodological errors, mitigate potential biases and produce more robust analyses of time series trends. Despite many existing challenges and pitfalls, we present a forward-looking prospectus for the future of insect population monitoring, highlighting opportunities for more creative exploitation of existing baseline data, technological advances in sampling and novel computational approaches. Entomologists cannot tackle these challenges alone, and it is only through collaboration with citizen scientists, other research scientists in many disciplines, and data analysts that the next generation of researchers will bridge the gap between little bugs and big data.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10619 - Biodiversity conservation
Result continuities
Project
—
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2020
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Insect Conservation and Diversity
ISSN
1752-458X
e-ISSN
—
Volume of the periodical
13
Issue of the periodical within the volume
2
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
12
Pages from-to
103-114
UT code for WoS article
000517816900002
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85080975537