Insect death

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term insect mortality refers to the decline in the number or biomass of insects and / or the number of insect species ( biodiversity ) in an area. It is part of the biodiversity crisis that has been evident in all families of life since the spread of humans and their intensive land use .

A decline in the number of insects is particularly problematic in ecology , since insects serve as food for many other species, for example numerous amphibians , birds and bats . A decline in insect populations therefore also endangers many other species in their existence. In addition, insect pollination is essential for many plants , including numerous crops . Among other things, insects are of great ecological importance as destructors . Dung beetles in particular play an important role in grassland management because they are the only way to ensure the rapid decomposition of the faeces of farm animals such as horses or cattle. Furthermore, some insects are pointer animals and thus bioindicators . Among the insects but will also pests and pests , and some types can be used as carriers of disease are dangerous to humans (for example, the Asian tiger mosquito ).

meaning

As early as 1992 had the United Nations Environment Program ( United Nations Environment Program, UNEP ) in view of the threat to biodiversity convened a conference and the adopted there Convention on Biological Diversity reacts to the feared sharp decline of the species inventory. As of March 2019, the convention was signed by 168 states including the European Union. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of all animal species are insects; in Germany alone, entomologists have described around 33,000 species so far, of which more than 7,800 (approx. 25 percent) are currently on the Red List of Endangered Species .

Comparative ecological studies show that not only the diversity of insects has decreased significantly in many regions in the industrial age . However, as with all invertebrates, the database is worse for insects than for vertebrates . In addition to the number of species, their abundance ( population density ) has also decreased: for the best-studied group of butterflies, it has been estimated by around a third in the past 40 years. Particularly worrying is the fact that in addition to rare species, the conservation of which is a particular focus of species protection, apparently also species that have so far been considered frequent and widespread are showing strong populations that were initially not noticed.

One worrying aspect arises from observations that suggest a decline in flower pollinating insects. Here, under the buzzword bee deaths, a public debate has started, which particularly affects honeybees . However, this species is a domesticated livestock , which was introduced by humans in large parts of its range through beekeeping and the number of which is therefore not only dependent on natural factors. But the natural pollinators , whose ecosystem service through pollination of cultivated plants is even more important economically for humans, may also decline in the same way.

The widely observed decline in insectivorous bird species, particularly in agricultural landscapes, is probably also related to a decline in insects as a food source. It is estimated that insectivorous birds consume 400–500 million tons of biomass per year worldwide.

Studies in Germany

For a long time there was little exact data on a decrease in biomass in insects. Critical scientists attribute this to the decline in publicly funded research in taxonomy and ecotoxicology since the 1990s. The use of the term frequently cited is a decrease of 80 percent since the late 1980s. The number was sometimes related to the whole of Germany, sometimes only to certain regions, in some cases "up to" 80 percent was mentioned. The number goes back to a publication by unpaid researchers from the Entomological Association Krefeld in 2013. They have been operating dozens of measuring stations for flying insects in North Rhine-Westphalia for decades. In the publication, the two measuring points in the Orbroicher Bruch ( Orbroich nature reserve , City of Krefeld ) were used to compare the years 1989 and 2013: One measuring point showed a weight decrease of 77 percent, the other a decrease of 80 percent. Another study by the University of Göttingen comes to a similar conclusion. In a large-scale study of dry grassland in Brandenburg , Saxony and Thuringia , an individual decline of up to 73 percent of the cicada populations was found. This corresponds to an average biomass loss of 54 percent. For the comparison, data from the 1960s were used and compared with newly collected data from 2008 to 2010.

The measurements of the Entomological Association Krefeld were carried out with malaise traps attached to the measuring points , which were emptied at similar times during the year in 1989 and 2013 (e.g. emptying May 8, 1989 and May 5, 2013) - in both years 24 times each. A decrease in the flying insect biomass of 77 and 80 percent was found at the two measuring points. The Krefeld study was reported in 2017 in the journal Science . The results of the studies were also extensively explained in a large article in the New York Times .

In total, the association had collected flying insects at 88 locations, identified their species and weighed them. While 1.6 kilograms were found in the test traps in 1995, today it is often only 300 grams. These biomass losses of up to 80 percent affect butterflies, bees and hover flies, among others. The figure 80 percent only refers to the measured values ​​from 1989 and 2013 at two measuring points in the Krefeld nature reserve Orbroicher Bruch . The results of the investigation carried out jointly by the Krefelder Verein and NABU were presented to the Environment Committee of the German Bundestag in January 2016 .

In October 2017, the results, expanded to include numerous additional areas, were published in collaboration with an international team of scientists in the journal PLOS ONE . This long-term study uses Malais traps to document the population figures in 63 German protected areas in different years, each in the period from 1989 to 2016, with 37 areas being examined once, 20 twice, five three times and one site every four years. According to the study, the mass of flying insects in the examined areas decreased by an average of 6.1 percent per year, cumulatively by more than 75 (74.8–78.5) percent, and by around 80 (79.7–83.4) in midsummer ) Percent. The decline extended over all examined biotope types without any significant trend differences . The increase in the mean annual temperature and the nutrients, which was also documented, had no influence on the result; on the contrary, these factors had a positive effect on the insect biomass, i.e. they countered the observed trend. Changes in vegetation and land use in the protected areas themselves, which are often viewed as being essential to the decline, were also insufficient to explain the decline. According to the authors, the results reflect large-scale trends, most likely the large-scale intensification of agricultural land use (increased intensity and frequency of measures, e.g. plowing and pesticide use). Since such data have only been collected in a few places worldwide, so that the decline is generally assessed by experts as highly probable, but this has rarely been backed up with hard data, the study has attracted a lot of public attention. The collected insects are kept by the researchers in order to perhaps investigate which species they are and whether there have been changes, for example in the number of species .

In a comprehensive study over the period between 2008 and 2017 at a total of 290 locations in three regions, in the Swabian Alb in southern Germany, in the Hainich in Thuringia and in the Schorfheide in Brandenburg, a massive decline in the Biomass, number and number of species of the arthropods examined (in addition to insects, spiders and centipedes and millipedes) were determined. In the grassland, the total biomass fell by an average of 67 percent, the number of species by 78 percent and the total number of animals by 34 percent, with rarer species being particularly affected. In forest areas, biomass fell by 41 percent and the number of species by 36 percent.

International studies

In early 2019, a review by the two Australian researchers Francisco Sánchez-Bayo and Kris AG Wyckhuys was published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation , which looked at the global dimension of the phenomenon. The study met with broad international media coverage, far beyond specialist circles. The two researchers evaluated 73 studies on insect mortality from different regions of the world and came to the conclusion that there had been a massive decrease in the biomass and biodiversity of insects in the previous decades . They predicted an extinction of around 40 percent of all insect species in the next few decades if this development continues. Of the land insects, the Lepidoptera , Hymenoptera and dung beetles are particularly endangered, while four large aquatic taxa ( Odonata , Plecoptera , Trichoptera and Ephemeroptera ) have already lost a considerable part of their species. The researchers named the loss of habitats as the main reason for the loss of biomass and biodiversity, mainly due to intensified agriculture. Other factors are pollution from agrochemicals, invasive species and global climate change.

Investigations using butterflies

The swallowtail is now an endangered species in Central Europe.

Butterflies belong to the better investigated groups of insects, so that there are also some of the few long-term studies available for this group, based on which a decline can not only be assumed, but also proven on the basis of data. Although there are also critics, the data for the butterflies are predominantly seen as comparable with those for the entire insect fauna and can therefore be used as a model group. Due to the extreme effort associated with quantitative investigations, measurements of the relative frequency are primarily available for this group too, but these are considered to be methodologically well established. The fauna of the island of Great Britain is best studied worldwide . The group of moths ("macro-moths", i.e. only the large butterflies ) has been operated by the Rothamsted Insect Survey since 1968 through a network of light traps (a good 80 traps per year, in changing areas, on average a good 7 years per area) Rothamsted Research explores. For the butterflies , the extensive observations of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, with annual reports, are available. Both data sets are observations collected by a network of specially trained volunteer workers according to a standardized protocol, i.e. citizen science . Due to the lack of quantitative data, conclusions were drawn about their decreasing abundance from a reduced range of species.

The data on the moths show species with increasing and decreasing populations, although the decreasing species clearly predominate, they make up about two thirds of all species. The decline of 337 species previously considered common and widespread was so strong that it would be sufficient for 71 of them to be included in the Red List of Threatened Species according to the IUCN criteria . The most important reason for the decrease turned out to be the decreasing quality (degradation) of the habitats due to agricultural land use, although the data did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about individual partial causes. As there are only a few places where comparable data are available, a direct comparison is difficult. In a comparable monitoring project using light traps in Hungary. however, the same trends were seen, including a long-term decrease in overall abundance. As with the butterflies, there were species of night moths that were able to expand their range to the north due to global warming. As with butterflies, however, more species of these decreased due to habitat deterioration in the population than were able to benefit from the area expansion. Among butterflies in England, the best-studied area, around 65 percent of the selected species group (55 species, 25 of which are widespread and common) showed a negative population trend, 33 percent a positive one, with the values ​​for the last decade show something more pleasing picture.

Insects as pollinators

The decline in insects pollinating flowers has also received particular attention because of the imminent economic impact on crop harvest. The UN organization Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services IPBES, which, similar to the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, is to serve as a platform for the exchange between science and politics on issues of biodiversity, presented its first major assessment report on this subject. In the summary of the report, the editors come to the conclusion: “Wild pollinators have declined in occurrence and diversity (and abundance for certain species) at local and regional scales in North West Europe and North America.” (“Wild pollinators in North West Europe and North America both at local and regional level in occurrence and diversity (and for certain species also in frequency). ”) The report points to a proven decline in bumblebee species ( Bombus spp.) and other wild bees , with a general decline trend of most species has so far been opposed by an increase in a few species, including many that were introduced by humans. In some cases it has been shown that the worldwide transport of human-bred pollinator species through introduced parasites and diseases directly led to the decline of indigenous species. There are only a few studies outside of Europe and North America. Outside of the report (in the creation of which numerous experts, including those from industry-related institutions, were involved), some of the main authors of the report indicate in an independent statement, from their personal point of view, essential conclusions from it. First and foremost, you mention the need for stricter approval procedures for pesticides.

Insects on windshields

As a rough indication that the biomass of insects must have decreased compared to earlier, the observation is cited that earlier there were more insects on the windshield of cars. Whether this observation is correct and whether it would be an indication of insect death, however, is assessed differently. The environmental scientist Josef Settele points out that the aerodynamics of the cars has also been improved, which makes all the more difference the lighter the animal is, which means that mosquitoes are now more often led past the window. The American entomologist John Acorn speaks of a meme whose first use he was able to trace back to 1997.

Methods

To prove insect mortality, data on the abundance of insects in previous years with current data are required, which may prove a decline that has occurred in the meantime ( monitoring ). Although there are numerous anecdotal reports on declining insect numbers from Germany, there are only a few data sets covering a longer period of time, even worldwide. The analysis of this data is also difficult and methodologically demanding. Since insect populations tend to have strong population fluctuations from year to year, which often correlate with the weather conditions, time series that cover a long period are necessary for a statistically reliable proof of a decline. All available time series are based on measurements of the relative frequency by means of automatically acting traps (automatic traps), such as light traps or Malais traps . In order to keep measurement errors within an acceptable framework, only data can be compared directly with one another that has been collected using a standardized and uniform method. A conversion of the relative frequencies into absolute numbers (absolute population size or population density ) is only possible under special circumstances using these methods. Special fishing techniques that have been developed for individual, often economically important species, cannot be used, since it is not known in advance how the overall development is distributed among the individual species. Most of the time series focus on the development of biodiversity , mostly on the basis of the total number of species , so that only very few data sets have been collected that can be used to estimate the total frequency of flying insects.

causes

Extremely species-poor "agricultural steppe" in the Palouse region (USA)

The causes of the decline include entomologists z. B. Loss of biotope in plants due to increased nitrogen content (for example through eutrophication of grasslands ), fragmentation of the landscape and the use of pesticides including the use of veterinary drugs (especially antiparasitic drugs ). Other causes mentioned are monocultures in agriculture and the low number of hedges and verges in fields. Biotope connections are interrupted more frequently, making migration more difficult. One of the reasons for the decline in the number of butterfly populations is that caterpillars will feed on a plant especially when it is nitrogen-deficient. However, through fertilizer in neighboring fields or through nitrogen oxides from car exhaust, plants absorb more nitrogen than before and grow stronger. Antibiotics and hormones from sewage can also pose a threat to insects.

Increasing light pollution also affects insects. Different mechanisms of action can be distinguished: insects are attracted and immobilized by light sources, which means that they lose activity time and more easily become victims of predators . If their orientation is disturbed, parts of their potential habitat can be cut off and thus lost. In the case of water-living ( aquatic ) insects in particular , lamps can even act as traps that empty entire habitats. Significant effects have been identified for nocturnal, pollinating butterfly species (Lepidoptera).

Current climate change has a complex direct and indirect effect on the occurrence and development of insects through various changing climate parameters such as temperature, precipitation or air humidity. Empirical studies on this are rare; up to now they have primarily examined the effects of rising temperatures and have often been limited to regions in the temperate zones . In general, the findings indicate that insects in temperate latitudes have a higher resistance to temperature changes than in the constant temperature tropics. Accordingly, in the tropics, even with relatively weak warming, more serious effects can be expected, while at higher latitudes, if the warming remains below a critical temperature threshold, an increase in fitness might even be possible. The evaluation of data from German nature reserves indicates that the rising temperatures have so far counteracted the observed trend towards decreasing insect biomass there (Hallmann et al., 2017). The serious decrease in biomass in a tropical rainforest area near Luquillo , Puerto Rico , documented on the basis of an evaluation of catches from 1976 to 2012 , is primarily due to the higher temperatures, according to the researchers.

The Hallmann u. a. Long-term study published in 2017 - which estimates insect mortality of 76 percent in some protected areas within Germany between 1989 and 2016 - could not identify any clear causes. The decline, at least on the basis of the available data, cannot be explained solely by the destruction of habitat, climate change or changes in land use - and thus also the impoverishment of agricultural landscapes. Josef Settele from Biocenosis Research at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Halle sees this as one of the few weak points of long-term monitoring: “The authors could not include all climatically relevant factors. According to their own statement, further analysis is needed. Therefore, the climate cannot be excluded as an important factor. The simplified representation that weather changes or changes in land use cannot explain the overall decline is at least misleading. ”Jan Christian Hebele from the Chair of Terrestrial Ecology , Technical University of Munich assumes that pesticides make a considerable contribution to the decline in insects. In the case of smaller nature reserves in particular, the area can be contaminated by air transport. Dicks et al. see agriculture as a major cause of the decline in pollinator populations. Not only farmers, but also agricultural politicians and consumers in their shopping behavior are responsible.

According to a model analysis published by DLR in 2018, wind turbines could play a regional role in the decline of some flying insect populations. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation saw no immediate need for action against the background of the main causes known to date. From the authors' point of view, an “empirical review of the losses theoretically calculated in [their] study would be very useful as the next step”.

Data collection and discussion in Germany

The debate on the subject of insect mortality, previously held mainly in the specialist public, intensified through the response of the Federal Government, represented by then Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks , to a small request from various members of the Greens on July 14, 2017, which was also taken up by national newspapers has been. The ministry stated, among other things, that there is currently no reliable, nationwide representative database for assessing long-term changes in the occurrence and population of insect fauna in Germany. Under the leadership of the BfN , however, a study entitled “Loss of biodiversity in FFH habitat types in the open country” was commissioned by the Entomological Association in Krefeld. Commentators such as the journalist Bernd Ulrich point out that the call for long-term studies in the event of catastrophic ecological developments such as the death of insects can lead to countermeasures being delayed for so long that, with unequivocal scientific evidence, it would be too late for effective countermeasures. Negative developments with a long-term, creeping course, without spectacular, television-compatible catastrophes as news hangers, would have a particularly difficult time being noticed in the public debate. Scientists like Niko Paech come to a similar assessment. It is criticized that the additional federal funds for insect protection continue to be offset by a significantly higher amount of environmentally harmful subsidies and that the globalized food system should only be changed symptomatically, but not transformatively, which would be essential for a sustainable use of natural resources.

In a technical discussion of the Committee for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of the German Bundestag on the subject, among other things, the reduction of the use of pesticides was called for.

Conservationists such as BUND demand that permanent nationwide insect monitoring be set up as quickly as possible and that insecticides known to be critical be checked intensively. Among other things, a ban on neonicotinoids , the implementation and immediate initiation and financing of measures to promote biodiversity such as B. the renaturation of field edges (field edge strips ) as well as the implementation of the legally prescribed waterway edge strips , a large-scale re-designation or enlargement of protected areas according to nature conservation and state forest law as well as the promotion of species, biotope and landscape protection as well as organic agriculture . Researchers from the Zoological State Collection in Munich found 2.6 times the amount of biomass on organically farmed agricultural land compared to conventionally farmed land .

The 2017 Agricultural Report by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation also states that the total number of insects in Germany has decreased significantly over the past three decades; this applies to both species numbers and insect populations. The decline in insect biomass is particularly pronounced in agricultural landscapes. In addition to other effects of intensified agriculture, the Federal Office particularly emphasizes insecticides of the active ingredient class of neonicotinoids as critical. At the end of 2017, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation announced that it had commissioned extensive insect monitoring as a result of the 2020 nature conservation offensive launched by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety . In October 2018, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze presented the proposed measures for the insect protection action program agreed in the coalition agreement . This was decided by the Federal Cabinet in September 2019 and has been criticized by various actors. The University of Hohenheim's International Insect Protection Symposium also took place in October 2018 in the Natural History Museum in Stuttgart . In the 9-point plan presented, the “restriction of the use of pesticides in agriculture” comes first. This program was also rated by other scientists as rather deficient and not very effective.

Nonetheless, large amounts of pesticides such as cyhalothrin and tebufenozide are still sprayed in German commercial forests to control pests .

Europe

On May 15, 2019, the European Commission registered the European citizens' initiative “Save the bees!”. The organizers are calling on the Commission to legislate to ensure that insect habitats are preserved and improved. One million support signatures from seven countries now have to be collected within one year.

Quote

"I miss the courtship of Great Bustards in the fields. I miss the cries of Whinchat , the warble of skylarks and yellowhammers . They lack the insects for food. The chicks die a quiet death and no one notices this tragedy. Only the silence in the fields is depressing. "

- Ernst Paul Dörfler : Where is the whinchat, Mr. Dörfler? In: Der Spiegel No. 25/15. June 2019, p. 52.

literature

Movie

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Insect mortality  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nicolas Schoof, Rainer Luick: Antiparasitics in grazing animals - an underestimated factor in insect death? No. 51 (10) . Nature conservation and landscape planning, 2019, p. 486-492 ( researchgate.net ).
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  4. ↑ Kevin J. Gaston & Richard A. Fuller (2007): Biodiversity and extinction: losing the common and the widespread. Progress in Physical Geography 31 (2): 213-225; doi: 10.1177 / 0309133307076488 .
  5. ^ Peter G. Kevan & Blandina F. Viana (2003): The global decline of pollination services. Biodiversity 4 (4): 3-8; doi: 10.1080 / 14888386.2003.9712703 .
  6. ↑ a b Lynn V. Dicks, Blandina Viana, Riccardo Bommarco, Berry Brosi, María del Coro Arizmendi, Saul A. Cunningham, Leonardo Galetto, Rosemary Hill, Ariadna V. Lopes, Carmen Pires, Hisatomo Taki, Simon G. Potts (2016 ): Ten policies for pollinators. Science 354 (6315): 975-976; doi: 10.1126 / science.aai9226 .
  7. ^ John E. Losey & Mace Vaughan (2006): The Economic Value of Ecological Services Provided by Insects. BioScience 56 (4): 311-323; doi : 10.1641 / 0006-3568 (2006) 56 [311: TEVOES] 2.0.CO; 2 .
  8. ↑ Lucas A. Garibaldi, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Rachael Winfree, Marcelo A. Aizen, Riccardo Bommarco, Saul A. Cunningham, Claire Kremen, Luísa G. Carvalheiro, Lawrence D. Harder, Ohad Afik, Ignasi Bartomeus, Faye Benjamin, Virginie Boreux, Daniel Cariveau, Natacha P. Chacoff, Jan H. Dudenhöffer, Breno M. Freitas, Jaboury Ghazoul, Sarah Greenleaf, Juliana Hipólito, Andrea Holzschuh, Brad Howlett, Rufus Isaacs, Steven K. Javorek, Christina M. Kennedy, Kristin Krewenka , Smitha Krishnan, Yael Mandelik, Margaret M. Mayfield, Iris Motzke, Theodore Munyuli, Brian A. Nault, Mark Otieno, Jessica Petersen, Gideon Pisanty, Simon G. Potts, Romina Rader, Taylor H. Ricketts, Maj Rundlöf, Colleen L . Seymour, Christof Schüepp, Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi, Hisatomo Taki, Teja Tscharntke, Carlos H. Vergara, Blandina F. Viana, Thomas C. Wanger, Catrin Westphal, Neal Williams, Alexandra M. Klein (2013): Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance. Science 340 (6127): 1608-1611; doi: 10.1126 / science.1230200 .
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  12. ↑ Martin Nyffeler, Çağan H. Şekercioğlu, Christopher J. Whelan (2018): Insectivorous birds consume an estimated 400–500 million tons of prey annually ; doi: 10.1007 / s00114-018-1571-z
  13. ↑ Monika Sax, Mathias Tertilt: Number of insects dropped by 75 percent . In: WDR Wissen , July 20, 2017, quote: “At the beginning of 2016, global insect mortality was confirmed by an international study by the World Council for Biodiversity. In some regions, up to 40 percent of flying insects are threatened with extinction. "
  14. ↑ Manfred Ronzheimer: Species shrinkage and fan death : Scientific problem children. The decline in species and the disappearance of professorships dealing with biological diversity go hand in hand. taz , January 19, 2018, accessed January 20, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Sebastian Schuch, Karsten Wesche, Matthias Schaefer: Long-term decline in the abundance of leafhoppers and planthoppers (Auchenorrhyncha) in Central European protected dry grasslands . In: Biological Conservation . tape 149 , no. 1 , 2012, p. 75-83 , doi : 10.1016 / j.biocon.2012.02.006 .
  16. ↑ Sebastian Schuch, Stefan Meyer, Julian Bock, Roel van Klink, Karsten Wesche: Drastic biomass losses in cicadas in various grasslands in Germany within six decades . In: Nature and Landscape . tape 94 , no. 4 , 2019, p. 141-145 , doi : 10.17433 / 4.2019.50153677 .
  17. ↑ Dying insects: will it crawl out soon? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . July 22, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017 .
  18. ↑ a b c Sorg, M .; Schwan, H .; Stenmans, W. & A. Müller: Determination of the biomass of flight-active insects in the nature reserve Orbroicher Bruch with malaise traps in 1989 and 2013. (PDF) In: Mitteilungen aus dem Entomologische Verein Krefeld Vol. 1 (2013), p. 1 -5. Entomological Association Krefeld, 2013, accessed on July 26, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Tina Baier: Is there an insect death in Germany? In: sueddeutsche.de . August 8, 2017. Quote: “For example, the southeastern Jura foothills, a nature reserve in the east of Regensburg, have data that go back to 1840. At that time there were 117 different species of butterflies there. Today there are only 71. "
  20. ↑ Where have all the insects gone? , Science May 10, 2017.
  21. ↑ Brooke Jarvis: The Insect Apocalypse Is Here . In: The New York Times . November 27, 2018, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed December 12, 2018]).
  22. ↑ NABU: Dramatic insect deaths: 80 percent decline in parts of Germany. Accessed July 17, 2016.
  23. ↑ Jens Voss: Media criticism: Krefeld entomologists defend their numbers on the death of insects. Retrieved July 26, 2017 .
  24. ↑ Entomological Association Krefeld
  25. ↑ a b c Casper A. Hallmann, Martin Sorg, Eelke Jongejans, Henk Siepel, Nick Hofland, Heinz Schwan, Werner Stenmans, Andreas Müller, Hubert Sumser, Thomas Hörren, Dave Goulson, Hans de Kroon: More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas . In: PLOS ONE . tape 12 , no. 10 , 2017, p. e0185809 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0185809 .
  26. ↑ 75 percent fewer insects: "We are in the middle of a nightmare" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  27. ↑ Sebastian Seibold, Martin M. Gossner, Nadja K. Simons, Nico Blüthgen, Jörg Müller, Didem Ambarlı, Christian Ammer, Jürgen Bauhus, Markus Fischer, Jan C. Habel, Karl Eduard Linsenmair, Thomas Nauss, Caterina Penone, Daniel Prati, Peter Schall, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Juliane Vogt, Stephan Wöllauer & Wolfgang W. Weisser: Arthropod decline in grasslands and forests is associated with landscape-level drivers . In: Nature . tape 574 , October 2019, p. 671-674 , doi : 10.1038 / s41586-019-1684-3 .
  28. ^ Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, Kris AG Wyckhuys: Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers . In: Biological Conservation . tape 232 , 2019, pp. 8–27 , doi : 10.1016 / j.biocon.2019.01.020 (English).
  29. ^ Matt McGrath: Global insect decline may see 'plague of pests'. BBC News, February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Leonie Sontheimer: Study confirms global insect death. Zeit online, February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Euan McKirdy: Massive insect decline could have 'catastrophic' environmental impact, study says. CNN, February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Chris Baynes: Mass insect extinction within a century threatens 'catastrophic' collapse of nature's ecosystems, scientists warn. Independent, February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Les insectes pourraient disparaître de la planète d'ici 100 ans. Le Monde, February 11, 2019, accessed on February 11, 2019 (French).
  34. ↑ Carlos Fresneda: El apocalipsis de los insectos. El Mundo, February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Spanish).
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  36. ^ The Insect Survey. Rothamstdead Research
  37. ↑ UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) Home Page
  38. ^ E. Pollard, TJ Yates: Monitoring Butterflies for Ecology and Conservation: The British Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Springer Verlag, 1994. 274 pages. ISBN 978-0-412-63460-4
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  40. ↑ Kelvin F. Conrad, Martin S. Warren, Richard Fox, Mark S. Parsons, Ian P. Woiwoda (2006): Rapid declines of common, widespread British moths provide evidence of an insect biodiversity crisis. Biological Conservation 132 (3): 279-291. doi: 10.1016 / j.biocon.2006.04.020
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