TY - JOUR

T1 - Insect decline in forests depends on species’ traits and may be mitigated by management

AU - Staab, Michael

AU - Gossner, Martin M.

AU - Simons, Nadja K.

AU - Achury, Rafael

AU - Ambarlı, Didem

AU - Bae, Soyeon

AU - Schall, Peter

AU - Weisser, Wolfgang W.

AU - Blüthgen, Nico

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - Insects are declining, but the underlying drivers and differences in responses between species are still largely unclear. Despite the importance of forests, insect trends therein have received little attention. Using 10 years of standardized data (120,996 individuals; 1,805 species) from 140 sites in Germany, we show that declines occurred in most sites and species across trophic groups. In particular, declines (quantified as the correlation between year and the respective community response) were more consistent in sites with many non-native trees or a large amount of timber harvested before the onset of sampling. Correlations at the species level depended on species’ life-history. Larger species, more abundant species, and species of higher trophic level declined most, while herbivores increased. This suggests potential shifts in food webs possibly affecting ecosystem functioning. A targeted management, including promoting more natural tree species composition and partially reduced harvesting, can contribute to mitigating declines.

AB - Insects are declining, but the underlying drivers and differences in responses between species are still largely unclear. Despite the importance of forests, insect trends therein have received little attention. Using 10 years of standardized data (120,996 individuals; 1,805 species) from 140 sites in Germany, we show that declines occurred in most sites and species across trophic groups. In particular, declines (quantified as the correlation between year and the respective community response) were more consistent in sites with many non-native trees or a large amount of timber harvested before the onset of sampling. Correlations at the species level depended on species’ life-history. Larger species, more abundant species, and species of higher trophic level declined most, while herbivores increased. This suggests potential shifts in food webs possibly affecting ecosystem functioning. A targeted management, including promoting more natural tree species composition and partially reduced harvesting, can contribute to mitigating declines.

KW - Biology

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151792050&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s42003-023-04690-9

DO - 10.1038/s42003-023-04690-9

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 37016087

AN - SCOPUS:85151792050

VL - 6

JO - Communications Biology

JF - Communications Biology

SN - 2399-3642

IS - 1

M1 - 338

ER -