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Effective conservation of migratory species relies on habitat protection throughout their annual cycle. Although protected areas (PAs) play a central role in conservation, their effectiveness at conserving habitats across the annual cycle of migratory species has rarely been assessed. We developed seasonal ecological niche models for 418 migratory butterfly species across their global distribution to assess whether they were adequately represented in the PAs across their full annual cycle. PA coverage was inadequate in at least one season for 84% of migratory butterflies, adequate for only 17% of species in one season, and inadequate for 45% of species in all seasons. There was marked geographic variation in PA coverage: 77% of species met representation targets in Sri Lanka, for example, but only 32% met targets in Italy. Our results suggest that coordinated efforts across multiple countries will be needed to develop international networks of PAs that cover the full annual cycle of migratory insects and that conservation measures, in addition to the establishment and maintenance of PAs, are likely to be needed to effectively conserve these species., (© 2024 Society for Conservation Biology.)

Dung beetles mostly feed on mammal dung. Throughout the European Alps, the dung produced by local domestic ungulates attracts many species of dung beetles, giving rise to rich and diversified communities that play an important role in the Alpine agricultural ecosystem. There is, therefore, understandable concern about the introduction of exotic livestock, such as alpacas ( Vicugna pacos (Linnaeus, 1758)), into the region. This research studied dung beetle assemblages in an Alpine valley where both cattle and alpacas are raised. We used standardized pitfall traps baited with alpaca or cow dung along altitudinal transects to assess the "attractiveness" of the two resources to dung beetles. Most species entered both trap types. The average number of species per trap did not vary significantly and the nMDS trap ordination largely overlapped, but the total number of individuals and the average number of individuals per trap were higher in traps baited with alpaca dung. This difference was largely due to the preference of the dominant species Euheptaulacus carinatus (Germar, 1824) for alpaca dung-baited traps. Moreover, both the abundance and specific richness changed with altitude, being greatest in alpaca traps during July at intermediate altitudes. IndVal analyses showed that eight out of nine species (all Aphodiinae) showed a preference for alpaca traps. Since the microclimatic conditions (i.e., temperature) of the two trap types were virtually the same, it is reasonable to consider trophic preferences as the source of the observed differences. Finally, we also sampled the beetles present in the alpaca latrines and cow dung pats deposited on pastures, providing confirmation that dung beetles do indeed visit the dung of both species. Our results emphasize the usefulness of polyphagia and the trophic flexibility of dung beetles, providing evidence that the long history of pastoralism in the Alps has not led local species to adapt to the dung of domestic ungulates. The results also suggest that alpaca breeding could be a sustainable activity since, thanks to the work of dung beetles which feed upon and move the dung into their tunnels (as occurs with cattle dung), there is less need for farmers to remove the dung from pastures.

Biodiversity data platforms including databases, websites and data repositories underpin conservation efforts by collecting spatiotemporal data of discovered native and alien species and maps of their distributions. Chalcid wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) are one of the most diverse insect groups estimated to include half a million species. Being mostly parasitoids of other arthropods, they have been successfully used as biological control agents against serious agricultural pests worldwide. In Cyprus, only 124 species of chalcid wasps have been recorded, with 53 species being alien to the island. Their true biodiversity is predicted to be much larger because the island is both under-sampled and under-researched. A number of biodiversity data platforms focusing on the biodiversity of Cyprus are currently online; however, an online platform dedicated on the chalcid wasps of Cyprus is lacking. In the framework of the Darwin Plus Fellowship (DPLUS202) "Species richness and biological invasions of Chalcid wasps in Akrotiri Peninsula", the "Chalcid wasps of Cyprus" website (https://sites.google.com/view/chalcidwaspscyprus) is presented. This online, dynamic database aims to: (1) raise public awareness regarding a rather neglected and yet ecologically important insect group, (2) provide data on the morphology, ecology and biodiversity of Chalcidoidea on Cyprus, as well as (3) promote conservation needs by setting a baseline for the future assessment of both native and alien chalcid wasp species. This online platform will be regularly revised in order to provide an up-to-date, user-friendly digital environment to the scientific community, policy-makers and citizens., Competing Interests: No conflict of interest to declare Disclaimer: This article is (co-)authored by any of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors or their deputies in this journal., (Evangelos Koutsoukos, Jakovos Demetriou, Christos Georgiadis, Mircea-Dan Mitroiu, Stephen Compton, Angeliki F Martinou.)

Recent losses in the abundance and diversity of arthropods have been documented in many regions and ecosystems. In grasslands, such insect declines are largely attributed to land use, including modern machinery and mowing regimes. However, the effects of different mowing techniques on arthropods remain poorly understood. Using 11 years of data from 111 agricultural grassland plots across Germany, we analyzed the influence of various grassland management variables on the abundance and abundance-accounted species richness of four arthropod orders: Araneae, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The analysis focused on detailed mowing information, for example, days after mowing and mower type, and compared their effect with other aspects of grassland management, that is, rolling, leveling, fertilization, and grazing. We found strong negative effects of mowing on all four arthropod orders, with arthropod abundance being lowest directly after mowing and steadily increasing to three to seven times the abundance after 100 days post-mowing. Likewise, Hemiptera and Coleoptera species richness was 30% higher 100 days after mowing. Mower width showed a positive effect on Orthoptera abundance, but not on the other arthropods. Arthropod abundance and Coleoptera species richness were lowest when a mulcher was used compared to rotary or bar mowers. In addition to mowing, intensive grazing negatively affected Orthoptera abundance but not the other orders. Mowing represents a highly disturbing and iterative stressor with negative effects on arthropod abundance and diversity, likely contributed by mowing-induced mortality and habitat alteration. While modifications of mowing techniques such as mower type or mowing height and width may help to reduce the negative impact of mowing on arthropods, our results show that mowing itself has the most substantial negative effect. Based on our results, we suggest that reduced mowing frequency, omission of mowing in parts of the grassland (refuges), or extensive grazing instead of mowing have the greatest potential to promote arthropod populations., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

There are widespread public efforts to conserve wildlife in urbanized landscapes via the installation of nursery-grown plants that support Lepidoptera taxa. Insecticides are commonly used during nursery production to suppress key plant pests, and many products have extended periods of toxicity and affect a wide range of herbivore taxa. While there are plentiful toxicological data on bee species, predominantly the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), little is known about how insecticides affect nonpest lepidopterans. Lepidoptera has different modes of exposure (e.g., leaf-feeding) and differences in susceptibility to insecticide target sites compared to bees. Consequently, many products compatible with bee conservation pose an uncertain risk to nonpest lepidopterans and thus may represent an under-recognized conflict with conservation efforts. Using the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus, L.), tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica, L.), and oleander aphid (Aphis nerii, Fonscolombe, 1841) system, we conducted leaf and whole-plant feeding assays to evaluate effects of acute and chronic monarch exposure to industry standard and alternative reduced-risk insecticides used during nursery production. We also evaluated the efficacy of these insecticides against their target pest, the oleander aphid. Our results indicate that insecticides used to control pests on ornamental milkweed can cause monarch larval mortality up to 4 wk after treatment application. Furthermore, the duration of aphid suppression is often shorter than the duration of adverse effects on monarchs. This study demonstrates a conflict between insect pest management and Lepidoptera conservation during ornamental plant production and has implications for the conservation value of ornamentals after retail sale., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

As insect populations decline in many regions, conservation biologists are increasingly tasked with identifying factors that threaten insect species and developing effective strategies for their conservation. One insect group of global conservation concern are fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Although quantitative data on firefly populations are lacking for most species, anecdotal reports suggest that some firefly populations have declined in recent decades. Researchers have hypothesized that North American firefly populations are most threatened by habitat loss, pesticide use, and light pollution, but the importance of these factors in shaping firefly populations has not been rigorously examined at broad spatial scales. Using data from >24,000 surveys (spanning 2008-16) from the citizen science program Firefly Watch, we trained machine learning models to evaluate the relative importance of a variety of factors on bioluminescent firefly populations: pesticides, artificial lights at night, land cover, soil/topography, short-term weather, and long-term climate. Our analyses revealed that firefly abundance was driven by complex interactions among soil conditions (e.g., percent sand composition), climate/weather (e.g., growing degree days), and land cover characteristics (e.g., percent agriculture and impervious cover). Given the significant impact that climactic and weather conditions have on firefly abundance, there is a strong likelihood that firefly populations will be influenced by climate change, with some regions becoming higher quality and supporting larger firefly populations, and others potentially losing populations altogether. Collectively, our results support hypotheses related to factors threatening firefly populations, especially habitat loss, and suggest that climate change may pose a greater threat than appreciated in previous assessments. Thus, future conservation of North American firefly populations will depend upon 1) consistent and continued monitoring of populations via programs like Firefly Watch, 2) efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and 3) insect-friendly conservation practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There is an increasing volume of literature on the impact of climate change on insects. However, there is an urgent need for more empirical research on underrepresented groups in key areas, including species for which the effects of climatic change may seem less evident. The present paper illustrates the results of a study on a common forest tenebrionid beetle, Accanthopus velikensis (Piller and Mitterpacher, 1783), at a regional scale within the Mediterranean basin. Using a large set of records from Latium (central Italy), changes in the median values of elevation, latitude, longitude, and phenology between two periods (1900-1980 vs. 1981-2022) were tested. Records of A. velikensis in the period 1981-2022 showed median values of elevation and latitude higher than those recorded in the first period. Thus, in response to rising temperatures, the species became more frequent at higher elevation and in northern places. By contrast, A. velikensis does not seem to have changed its activity pattern in response to increased temperatures, but this might be an artifact due to the inclusion of likely overwintering individuals. The results obtained for A. velikensis indicate that even thermally euryoecious species can show changes in their elevational and latitudinal distribution, and that poleward shifts can be apparent even within a small latitudinal gradient.

Recent work has shown the decline of insect abundance, diversity and biomass, with potential implications for ecosystem services. These declines are especially pronounced in regions with high human activity, and urbanization is emerging as a significant contributing factor. However, the scale of these declines and the traits that determine variation in species-specific responses remain less well understood, especially in subtropical and tropical regions, where insect diversity is high and urban footprints are rapidly expanding. Here, we surveyed moths across an entire year in protected forested sites across an urbanization gradient to test how caterpillar and adult life stages of subtropical moths (Lepidoptera) are impacted by urbanization. Specifically, we assess how urban development affects the total biomass of caterpillars, abundance of adult moths and quantify how richness and phylogenetic diversity of macro-moths are impacted by urban development. Additionally, we explore how life-history traits condition species' responses to urban development. At the community level, we find that urban development decreases caterpillar biomass and adult moth abundance. We also find sharp declines of adult macro-moths in response to urban development across the phylogeny, leading to a decrease in species richness and phylogenetic diversity in more urban sites. Finally, our study found that smaller macro-moths are less impacted by urban development than larger macro-moths in subtropical environments, perhaps highlighting the tradeoffs of metabolic costs of urban heat favoring smaller moths over the relative benefits of dispersal for larger moths. In summary, our research underscores the far-reaching consequences of urbanization on moths and provides compelling evidence that urban forests alone may not be sufficient to safeguard biodiversity in cities., (Global Change Biology© 2024 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Healthy cultures of arthropods are important for pest management programs (e.g. biocontrol). Little is known about how rearing conditions may affect pheromonal interactions. We investigated how rearing histories and densities affect pheromone emission/production in two stink bug species (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), the predatory bug Arma custos, a biocontrol agent, and the bean bug Riptortus pedestris, a pest on legume crops., Results: Nymphs from newly established laboratory colonies of both species produced higher amounts of the defense (dispersal) compound, 4-oxo-(E)-hexenal (OHE), in the presence of conspecific nymphs. Also, when two or more A. custos males were placed together, the dorsal abdominal glands (DAGs) ceased to release aggregation pheromone, whereas the metathoracic glands (MTGs) increased the emission of defensive odors. These changes resulted from exposure to conspecific pheromone odors, as confirmed by exposing bugs to pheromone standards. Hence, pheromone emissions in these stink bugs are readily changed in response to the odors of conspecifics, which may become a problem after long-term rearing. Indeed, an old laboratory colony of A. custos (~30 generations) exhibited less-developed DAGs and reduced pheromone production. Instead, males released significantly more defensive odors from the enlarged MTGs. Furthermore, long-term rearing conditions appeared to favor nymphs that were able to share space with conspecifics by releasing less OHE, which has not yet occurred in the new laboratory colonies., Conclusion: Rearing density affects pheromone release in newly established laboratory colonies of stink bug species, whereas long-term rearing results in new pheromonal compositions coinciding with adaptive changes in gland development. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Habitat translocation is a method of habitat salvation conducted in cases of its inevitable destruction during construction projects. To evaluate the large-scale turf translocation of wet meadows to derelict land, with consideration of the possible impact of the surrounding area on the translocated habitat, salvaged Molinion meadows were compared to reference meadows near the donor site and to varied plots in the receptor area. The study included the soil, vegetation and selected groups of invertebrates at different motility and food levels. Pollinators (wild bees, butterflies), grasshoppers, ants and soil mesofauna, with emphasis on springtails, were counted and identified to the species level. Lower numbers of springtails and higher numbers of grasshoppers were observed in the translocated plots than in the reference plots. For springtails, the decreased soil porosity was a clear disadvantage. Mobile animals with a high food specificity responded dynamically to the habitat translocation. The translocated plots maintained their biodiversity. However, an influx of cosmopolitan species was noticeable, especially for the plants and pollinators. A few vulnerable species declined in number. The habitat translocation to derelict land was associated with a deterioration of the ecological condition of the habitat; thus, natural habitats should be preserved where they are if possible. However, in the case of their inevitable destruction, translocation is better than nothing. Revitalised areas can be a valuable spot for local pollinators, as well as for other animals, as far as their biodiversity is maintained. Caring for pollinators, which are under threat on a global scale, should be a particular concern for the safety of crops and phytocoenoses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Earth's most diverse group of organisms is facing an imminent crisis, as recent investigations suggest a remarkable decline in insect diversity. Within this context, altimontane forest islands might emerge as important refuges holding an invaluable diversity of species that would be doomed to disappear. Here, we aimed to examine the impact of fire on the temporal variation of ant, bee, butterfly, dung beetle, and wasp communities in natural and highly threatened altimontane forest islands. We predicted that fire incidence would increase the natural variation in the structure of these insects' communities over time. Furthermore, we predicted that each taxon would respond accordingly to their ability to move between forest islands (i.e., vagility). We sampled these five bioindicator taxa in the rainy seasons of 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2020 within 14 forest islands in southeast Brazil. We assessed the incidence (presence/absence) of fire occurrence on each forest island toward the end of the dry season in each sampling year. We found an influence of fire incidence on the species composition changes over time (temporal β -diversity) in the less vagile insect groups: ants, and dung beetles. Nevertheless, we found no influence of fire incidence on shifts in species composition of highly vagile insects: bees, butterflies, and wasps. Importantly, species turnover was the primary component of temporal β -diversity driving the interannual variation of all insect taxa examined in this study. Our results highlight the distinct responses of more-or-less vagile insect groups to fire in forested ecosystems and shed light on the drivers of vulnerability and resilience of these groups to this critical anthropogenic pressure. By understanding and elucidating the intricate responses of distinct insect communities to global stressors, we can strengthen our capacity to predict future trends in biodiversity decline and provide valuable insights for conservation efforts and environmental management strategies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Here we focus on designing, for the first time, microsatellite markers for evolutionary and ecological research on aquatic beetles from the genus Ochthebius (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae). Some of these non-model species, with high cryptic diversity, exclusively inhabit supratidal rockpools, extreme and highly dynamic habitats with important anthropogenic threats. We analysed 15 individuals of four species ( O. lejolisii , O. subinteger , O. celatus , and O. quadricollis ) across 10 localities from the Mediterranean coasts of Spain and Malta. Using next-generation sequencing technology, two libraries were constructed to interpret the species of the two subgenera present consistently ( Ochthebius s. str., O. quadricollis ; and Cobalius , the rest of the species). Finally, 20 markers (10 for each subgenus) were obtained and successfully tested by cross-validation in the four species under study. As a by-catch, we could retrieve the complete mitochondrial genomes of O. lejolisii , O. quadricollis , and O. subinteger . Interestingly, the mitochondrial genome of O. quadricollis exhibited high genetic variability compared to already published data. The novel SSR panels and mitochondrial genomes for Ochthebius will be valuable in future research on species identification, diversity, genetic structure, and population connectivity in highly dynamic and threatened habitats such as supratidal coastal rockpools.

Pesticides, synthetic fragrances and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contaminated two glacier-fed streams (Amola, Mandrone) and one spring (Grostè) in the Italian Alps. Ten compounds (chlorpyrifos (CPY), chlorpyrifos-methyl (CPY-m), galaxolide (HHCB), tonalide (AHTN), fluorene (Flu), phenanthrene (Phen), anthracene (Ant), fluoranthene (Fl), pyrene (Pyr), benzo[a]anthracene (BaA)) accumulated in aquatic larvae of chironomids (Diamesa steinboecki, D. latitarsis, D. bertrami, D. tonsa, D. zernyi, Pseudokiefferiella parva, Orthocladiinae) and tipulids. Their tissue concentrations (detected by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) ranged from 1.1 ± 0.1 ng/g d.w. (= dry weight) (CPY-m in D. tonsa from Amola) to 68.0 ± 9.1 ng/g d.w. (Pyr in D. steinboecki from Mandrone). HHCB, AHTN, and CPY, with one exception, were accumulated by all aquatic insects. Six compounds (CPY, CPY-m, HHCB, AHTN, Fl, Pyr) also contaminated carabids (Nebria germarii, N. castanea, N. jockischii) predating adults of merolimnic insects. Their tissue concentrations ranged from 1.1 ± 0.3 ng/g d.w. (CPY-m in N. germarii from Mandrone) to 84.6 ± 0.3 ng/g d.w. (HHCB in N. castanea from Grostè). HHCB and AHTN were accumulated by all Nebria species. Intersite and interspecies differences were observed, which might be attributed to different environmental contamination levels. There was a stronger similarity between species from the same site than among the same species from different sites, suggesting that uptake is not species specific. At all sites, the concentration of xenobiotics was higher in larvae than in water and comparable or higher in carabids than in larvae from the same site, suggesting trophic transfer by emerging aquatic insects to their riparian predators., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The ability to measure flying insect activity and abundance is important for ecologists, conservationists and agronomists alike. However, existing methods are laborious and produce data with low temporal resolution (e.g. trapping and direct observation), or are expensive, technically complex, and require vehicle access to field sites (e.g. radar and lidar entomology). We propose a method called "Camfi" for long-term non-invasive population monitoring and high-throughput behavioural observation of low-flying insects using images and videos obtained from wildlife cameras, which are inexpensive and simple to operate. To facilitate very large monitoring programs, we have developed and implemented a tool for automatic detection and annotation of flying insect targets in still images or video clips based on the popular Mask R-CNN framework. This tool can be trained to detect and annotate insects in a few hours, taking advantage of transfer learning. Our method will prove invaluable for ongoing efforts to understand the behaviour and ecology of declining insect populations and could also be applied to agronomy. The method is particularly suited to studies of low-flying insects in remote areas, and is suitable for very large-scale monitoring programs, or programs with relatively low budgets., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wallace, Reber, Dreyer, Beaton, Zeil and Warrant.)

Introduction: The Bogong moth Agrotis infusa is well known for its remarkable annual round-trip migration from its breeding grounds across eastern and southern Australia to its aestivation sites in the Australian Alps, to which it provides an important annual influx of nutrients. Over recent years, we have benefited from a growing understanding of the navigational abilities of the Bogong moth. Meanwhile, the population of Bogong moths has been shrinking. Recently, the ecologically and culturally important Bogong moth was listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List, and the establishment of a program for long-term monitoring of its population has been identified as critical for its conservation., Methods: Here, we present the results of two years of monitoring of the Bogong moth population in the Australian Alps using recently developed methods for automated wildlife-camera monitoring of flying insects, named Camfi. While in the Alps, some moths emerge from the caves in the evening to undertake seemingly random flights, filling the air with densities in the dozens per cubic metre. The purpose of these flights is unknown, but they may serve an important role in Bogong moth navigation., Results: We found that these evening flights occur throughout summer and are modulated by daily weather factors. We present a simple heuristic model of the arrival to and departure from aestivation sites by Bogong moths, and confirm results obtained from fox-scat surveys which found that aestivating Bogong moths occupy higher elevations as the summer progresses. Moreover, by placing cameras along two elevational transects below the summit of Mt. Kosciuszko, we found that evening flights were not random, but were systematically oriented in directions relative to the azimuth of the summit of the mountain. Finally, we present the first recorded observations of the impact of bushfire smoke on aestivating Bogong moths - a dramatic reduction in the size of a cluster of aestivating Bogong moths during the fire, and evidence of a large departure from the fire-affected area the day after the fire., Discussion: Our results highlight the challenges of monitoring Bogong moths in the wild and support the continued use of automated camera-based methods for that purpose., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wallace, Dreyer, Reber, Khaldy, Mathews-Hunter, Green, Zeil and Warrant.)

As moths are vital components of ecosystems and serve as important bioindicators, understanding the dynamics of their communities and the factors influencing these dynamics, such as anthropogenic impacts, is crucial to understand the ecological processes. Our study focuses on two provinces in southern Sweden, Västergötland and Småland, where we used province records from 1974 to 2019 in combination with light traps (in 2020) to record the presence and abundance of moth species, subsequently assessing species traits to determine potential associations with their presence in anthropogenically modified landscapes. This study design provides a unique opportunity to assess temporal changes in moth communities and their responses to shifts in environmental conditions, including anthropogenic impacts. Across the Västergötland and Småland provinces in Sweden, we recorded 776 moth taxa belonging to fourteen different taxonomic families of mainly Macroheterocera. We captured 44% and 28% of the total moth species known from these provinces in our traps in Borås (Västergötland) and Kalmar (Småland), respectively. In 2020, the species richness and abundance were higher in Borås than in Kalmar, while the Shannon and Simpson diversity indices revealed a higher species diversity in Kalmar. Between 1974 and 2019, the colonisation rates of the provinces increased faster in Småland. Ninety-three species were found to have colonised these provinces since 1974, showing that species richness increased over the study period. We reveal significant associations between the probability of a species being present in the traps and distinct traits compared to a provincial species pool. Traits over-represented in the traps included species with a high variation in colour patterns, generalist habitat preferences, extended flight periods, lower host plant specificity, and overwintering primarily as eggs. Our findings underscore the ongoing ecological filtering that favours certain species-specific traits. This study sheds light on the roles of climate change and anthropogenic impacts in shaping moth biodiversity, offers key insights into the ecological processes involved, and can guide future conservation efforts.

Across an elevation gradient, several biotic and abiotic factors influence community assemblages of interacting species leading to a shift in species distribution, functioning, and ultimately topologies of species interaction networks. However, empirical studies of climate-driven seasonal and elevational changes in plant-pollinator networks are rare, particularly in tropical ecosystems. Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspots in Kenya, East Africa. We recorded plant-bee interactions at 50 study sites between 515 and 2600 m asl for a full year, following all four major seasons in this region. We analysed elevational and seasonal network patterns using generalised additive models (GAMs) and quantified the influence of climate, floral resource availability, and bee diversity on network structures using a multimodel inference framework. We recorded 16,741 interactions among 186 bee and 314 plant species of which a majority involved interactions with honeybees. We found that nestedness and bee species specialisation of plant-bee interaction networks increased with elevation and that the relationships were consistent in the cold-dry and warm-wet seasons respectively. Link rewiring increased in the warm-wet season with elevation but remained indifferent in the cold-dry seasons. Conversely, network modularity and plant species were more specialised at lower elevations during both the cold-dry and warm-wet seasons, with higher values observed during the warm-wet seasons. We found flower and bee species diversity and abundance rather than direct effects of climate variables to best predict modularity, specialisation, and link rewiring in plant-bee-interaction networks. This study highlights changes in network architectures with elevation suggesting a potential sensitivity of plant-bee interactions with climate warming and changes in rainfall patterns along the elevation gradients of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot., (© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Dispersal is a key influence on species' persistence, particularly in the context of habitat fragmentation and environmental change. Previously, residual population synchrony has been demonstrated to be an effective proxy for dispersal in mobile butterflies (Powney et al. 2012). Here, we highlight the utility and limitations of population synchrony as an indicator of functional connectivity and persistence, at a range of spatial scales, in a specialist, sedentary butterfly. While at the local scale, population synchrony is likely indicative of dispersal in the pearl-bordered fritillary, Boloria euphrosyne, over larger scales, habitat is likely to influence population dynamics. Although declines in local-scale synchrony conformed to typical movement in this species, synchrony showed no significant trend with distance when studied at larger (between-site) scales. By focusing on specific site comparisons, we draw the conclusion that heterogeneity in habitat successional stage drives asynchrony between sites at larger distances and is, therefore, likely to be a more important driver of population dynamics over large distances than dispersal. Within-site assessments of synchrony highlight differences in dispersal based on habitat type, with movement shown to be most inhibited between transect sections with contrasting habitat permeability. While synchrony has implications for metapopulation stability and extinction risk, no significant difference was found in average site synchrony between sites that had gone extinct during the study period and those remaining occupied. We demonstrate that population synchrony may be used to assess local-scale movement between sedentary populations, as well as to understand barriers to dispersal and guide conservation management., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The abandonment of traditional agricultural practices and subsequent succession are major threats to many open-adapted species and species-rich ecosystems. Viticulture on steep slopes has recently suffered from strong declines due to insufficient profitability, thus increasing the area of fallow land considerably. Changing cultivation systems from vertically oriented to modern vineyard terraces offers an opportunity to maintain management economically viable and thus reduces further abandonment. Hillside parallel terraces favor mechanization, and their embankments offer large undisturbed areas that could provide valuable habitats. We investigated the effects of vineyard abandonment, different vineyard management types (vertically oriented vs. terraced), and local parameters on Orthoptera diversity in 45 study sites along the Upper Middle Rhine Valley in Germany. Our results show that woody structures and vineyard abandonment reduced Orthoptera diversity at the local and landscape scale due to decreased habitat quality, especially for open-adapted species. In contrast, open inter-rows of actively managed vineyard types supported heat-adapted Caelifera species. On terrace embankments, extensive management and taller vegetation benefited Ensifera species, while short and mulched vegetation in vertically oriented vineyards favored the dominance of one single Caelifera species. Our results highlight the significance of maintaining viticultural management on steep slopes for the preservation of both open-adapted Orthoptera species and the cultural landscape.

Moth populations have declined across large parts of north-western Europe since the mid-20th century due, in part, to agricultural intensification. Agri-environment schemes (AES) are widely implemented across Europe to protect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Grass field margins enriched with wildflowers typically out-perform grass-only margins in terms of increasing insect abundance and diversity. However, the effect of wildflower enrichment on moths remains largely unstudied. Here, the relative importance of larval hostplants and nectar resources for adult moths within AES field margins are investigated. Two treatments and a control were compared: (i) a plain grass mix, the control, (ii) a grass mix enriched with only moth-pollinated flowers, and (iii) a grass mix enriched with 13 wildflower species. Abundance, species richness and Shannon diversity were up to 1.4, 1.8 and 3.5 times higher, respectively, in the wildflower treatment compared to plain grass. The difference in diversity between treatments became greater in the second year. There was no difference in total abundance, richness or diversity between the plain grass treatment and grass enriched with moth-pollinated flowers. The increase in abundance and diversity in the wildflower treatment was due primarily to the provision of larval hostplants, with nectar provision playing a smaller role. The relative abundance of species whose larval hostplants included sown wildflowers increased in the second year, suggesting colonisation of the new habitat. Implications for insect conservation. We show that, at the farm scale, moth diversity can be greatly enhanced and abundance moderately enhanced by sowing diverse wildflower margins, providing these insects with both larval hostplants and floral resources, compared to grass-only margins., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10841-023-00469-9., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

In a scenario with declining biodiversity and habitat loss, botanic gardens could serve as refuges for invertebrates, but the opportunities they offer for animal conservation are still poorly understood. Odonata is a good model group for conservation studies, because it includes threatened species and responses to habitat disturbance are well documented. In this study, we assessed the role of the botanic garden of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain as a refuge for members of Odonata by analysing their taxonomic and functional diversity. We explored if the small size of the botanic garden might constrain the taxonomic diversity of Odonata and if low habitat diversity might limit their functional diversity. We sampled adult Odonata from five water bodies along a gradient of human impact and characterized the Odonata communities based on 12 functional traits in Odonata. We used a species-area relationship to control for differences in the size of water bodies. Compared with natural lakes, the Odonata communities contained less species and their functional diversity was lower in the botanic garden ponds, where generalist species were basically hosted. Despite these limitations, the botanic garden ponds hosted the number of species expected for natural water bodies with the moderate surface area and functional diversity, thereby demonstrating that they are a valuable habitat for Odonata in an urban environment. Appropriate management involving the removal of exotic fish and habitat diversification, including creating lotic environments, would increase the taxonomic and functional diversity of Odonata in this urban system., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10201-022-00704-3., (© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Japanese Society of Limnology 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

While agricultural intensification and habitat loss are cited as key drivers of moth decline, these alone cannot explain declines observed in UK woodlands - a habitat that has expanded in area since 1968.We quantified how moth communities changed across habitats and regions and determined how species traits interacted with habitat in predicting moth abundance change. We hypothesised that, in woodlands, species more vulnerable to shading and browsing by deer (species specialising on forbs, shrubs and shade-intolerant plants) had declined more severely than other species, and that moth decline in woodlands was more severe at sites more susceptible to deer damage.We modelled abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity from 1968 to 2016 and explored how these interacted with habitat and region. We also modelled the interaction between habitat and two moth species traits: larval feeding guild and shade-tolerance of hostplant.Moth declines were consistently highest in broadleaf woodland. Abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity declined significantly by -51%, -52%, -14% and -15% in woodlands, respectively, compared to national trends of -34%, -39%, -1% (non-significant) and +10%. Declines were no greater in woodlands more susceptible to deer browsing damage. Traits based analysis found no evidence that shading and intensive browsing by deer explained moth declines in woodland.Moth decline was more severe in broadleaf woodlands than in intensively managed farmlands. We found no evidence that deer browsing or increased shading has driven these trends: the primary cause of the decline of moths in woodlands remains unclear., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest to declare among the authors of the manuscript., (© 2022 The Authors. Insect Conservation and Diversity published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society.)

In the years 2020-2022, a survey was carried out with the aim of controlling the entomofauna present in seven Sardinian snail farms. The sampling was carried out during the spring-summer and autumn-winter periods, corresponding to the production cycles of the Helix aspersa snails (Müller, 1774), the species most frequently bred in snail farms. The samples were taken from farms located in different areas of the region. For the predatory species found in most of the farms, 38% of the individuals were of the Silpha tristis Illiger, 1798 (Coleoptera: Silphidae) species, 32% were Ocypus olens Müller, 1764 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), and 24% were Carabus ( Macrothorax ) morbillosus constantinus Kraatz, 1899 (Coleoptera: Carabidae). The Lampyris sardiniae Geisthardt, 1987 (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and Licinus punctatulus Fabricius, 1792 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) species were equally detected in 3% of the farms. In some farms, the predatory species S. tristis and C. morbillosus costantinus had caused the death of several snails. This preliminary study aimed to provide a first evaluation and description of the critical issues facing the snails present in seven Sardinian snail farms. First, a specific survey of the entomofauna during two observational periods (i.e., the spring-summer and autumn-winter periods) was conducted. Context-specific description and evaluation will allow providing valid information for Italian and European heliciculture farms to ensure the well-being of the mollusks. The presence of predatory species in snail farms is not easy to control, but some precautions could be useful to avoid massive colonization.

It is essential to engage the public in conservation measures to conserve insects. We investigate the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), as well as knowledge, attitudes, and sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education level, and income) as predictors of willingness to donate (WTD) and actual donations to insect conservation for a representative German sample ( N  = 515; M Age  = 49.36, SD  = 16.73; female = 50.1%). The PMT subcomponents severity, self-efficacy, and response efficacy, as well as attitudes toward insects, income, and education level, significantly predicted WTD. In contrast, severity, response barriers, age, gender, and the WTD significantly influenced actual donations. Overall, components of the PMT have high predictive power for both dependent variables. Our results suggest that an intention-behavior gap exists between the intention to donate and the actual donation toward insect conservation. Measures to increase WTD and actual donations for insect conservation are discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Dörge, Büscher, Drews, Eylerign and Fiebelkorn.)

Ground-dwelling beetles are important functional components in nutrient-poor grasslands of middle temperate steppe ecosystems in China. Here, we assessed the changes in ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities in the grasslands of northwestern China over 12 years to improve the management and conservation of beetles all over the world. The Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was applied to estimate the changes in carabid beetle communities in two regions: a desert steppe (Yanchi region), and a typical steppe and meadow steppe (Guyuan region). During the 12-year investigation, a total of 34 species were captured. We found that species abundance and richness per survey declined by 0.2 and 11.2%, respectively. Precipitation was the main factor affecting the distribution of carabid beetles. A distinct decline in carabid beetle species in the Yanchi region indicated that they may be threatened by less precipitation and loss of habitat, which could be due to climate change. Overall, species richness was stable in the Guyuan region. It is necessary to estimate and monitor the changes in carabid beetle communities in a temperate steppe of northern China and to protect them. Extensive desertification seriously threatens the distribution of carabid beetles. Future research should develop methods to protect carabid beetle communities in temperate steppes in China.

In general, insects and arthropods polarizing: they either fascinate people, disgust people, or both, and they generate lots of questions. Museums are perceived as reliable sources of information and, as such, a go-to destination for the public to receive answers. Since its opening in 1990, the Montreal Insectarium has offered an entomological information service, allowing the public to send questions, photographs, and specimens for identification. All requests are answered by entomologists. Spatiotemporal variations in taxonomic, geographic, and thematic profiles of the 4163 requests received in 2010-2011 and 2017-2018 were analyzed. Requests came from 35 countries, and most of those requests came from Canada. The majority of requests were identification requests. Representing 25% of identification requests, the five most frequent species were the eastern dobsonfly Corydalus cornutus , the masked hunter Reduvius personatus , the giant water bug Lethocerus americanus , the western conifer-seed bug Leptoglossus occidentalis, and the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica . A comparison with the data from the citizen science platform iNaturalist shows that the EIS can be a valuable tool for invasive species detection. Frequent subjects included school projects, entomophagy (eating insects), and wasp and bee nests. Finally, we discuss the role of entomologists in providing scientific information but also in addressing common concerns regarding cohabitation with arthropods.

Establishing habitat in agricultural landscapes of the north central United States is critical to reversing the decline of North America's eastern monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population. Insecticide use could create population sinks and threaten recovery. Discouraging habitat establishment within a 38-m zone around crop fields is a suggested risk mitigation measure. In Story County, Iowa, United States, this mitigation would discourage habitat establishment in 84% of roadsides and 38% of noncrop land. It is unclear if the conservation benefits from establishing habitat close to crop fields outweigh suppression of population growth owing to insecticide exposure. Consequently, monarch conservation plans require spatially and temporally explicit landscape-scale assessments. Using an agent-based model that incorporates female monarch movement and egg laying, the number and location of eggs laid in Story County were simulated for four habitat scenarios: current condition, maximum new establishment, moderate establishment, and moderate establishment only outside a 38-m no-plant zone around crop fields. A demographic model incorporated mortality from natural causes and insecticide exposure to simulate adult monarch production over 10 years. Assuming no insecticide exposure, simulated adult production increased 24.7% and 9.3%, respectively, with maximum and moderate habitat establishment and no planting restrictions. A 3.5% increase was simulated assuming moderate habitat establishment with a 38-m planting restriction. Impacts on adult production were simulated for six representative insecticides registered for soybean aphid (Aphis glycines) management. Depending on the frequency of insecticide applications over a 10-year period, simulated production increased 8.2%-9.3%, assuming moderate habitat establishment with no planting restrictions. Results suggest that the benefits of establishing habitat close to crop fields outweigh the adverse effects of insecticide spray drift; that is, metapopulation extirpation is not a concern for monarchs. These findings are only applicable to species that move at spatial scales greater than the scale of potential spray-drift impacts. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:989-1002. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

(1) Modern, intensive agricultural practices have been attributed to the loss of insect biodiversity and abundance in agroecosystems for the last 80 years. The aim of this work is to test whether there are statistically significant differences in insect abundance between different zones and over time on the vineyard field. (2) The study was carried out in five intensive wine farms in Spain over a three-year period (2013-2015). Each field was divided into two zones, one where cover plants were planted, and another remained unchanged (without cover). (3) A clear trend to increase the average number of insect species and individuals throughout the years in all farms was observed. Moreover, the zones with cover plants showed a significant difference with respect to the zones without. (4) The use of permanent cover plants allows creating areas of refuge for the insects favouring their conservation and reducing the agriculture impact in the insect decline.

Species range expansions are crucial for understanding niche formation and the interaction with the environment. Here, we studied the bumblebee Bombus haematurus Kriechbaumer, 1870, a species historically distributed from northern Serbia through northern Iran which has very recently started expanding northwestward into Central Europe without human-mediated dispersal (i.e., it is a natural spread). After updating the global distribution of this species, we investigated if niche shifts took place during this range expansion between newly colonized and historical areas. In addition, we have explored which climatic factors may have favored the natural range expansion of the species. Our results indicated that Bombus haematurus has colonized large territories in 7 European countries outside the historical area in the period from the 1980s to 2018, a natural expansion over an area that equals 20% of the historical distribution. In addition, this bumblebee performs generalism in flower visitation and it occurs in different habitats, although a preference for forested areas clearly emerges. The land-use associated with the species in the colonized areas is similar to the historical distribution, indicating that no major niche shifts occurred during the spread. Furthermore, in recently colonized localities, the range expansion was associated with warming temperatures during the winter and also during both queen overwintering and emergence phases. These findings document a case of natural range expansion due to environmental change rather than due to niche shifts, and specifically they suggest that warmer winters could be linked to the process of natural colonization of new areas., (© 2020 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.)

Some insect populations are experiencing dramatic declines, endangering the crucial ecosystem services they provide. Yet, other populations appear robust, highlighting the need to better define patterns and underlying drivers of recent change in insect numbers. We examined abundance and biodiversity trends for North American butterflies using a unique citizen-science dataset that has recorded observations of over 8 million butterflies across 456 species, 503 sites, nine ecoregions, and 26 years. Butterflies are a biodiverse group of pollinators, herbivores, and prey, making them useful bellwethers of environmental change. We found great heterogeneity in butterfly species' abundance trends, aggregating near zero, but with a tendency toward decline. There was strong spatial clustering, however, into regions of increase, decrease, or relative stasis. Recent precipitation and temperature appeared to largely drive these patterns, with butterflies generally declining at increasingly dry and hot sites but increasing at relatively wet or cool sites. In contrast, landscape and butterfly trait predictors had little influence, though abundance trends were slightly more positive around urban areas. Consistent with varying responses by different species, no overall directional change in butterfly species richness or evenness was detected. Overall, a mosaic of butterfly decay and rebound hotspots appeared to largely reflect geographic variability in climate drivers. Ongoing controversy about insect declines might dissipate with a shift in focus to the causes of heterogeneous responses among taxa and sites, with climate change emerging as a key suspect when pollinator communities are broadly impacted., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Grasslands are globally imperilled ecosystems due to widespread conversion to agriculture and there is a concerted effort to catalogue arthropod diversity in grasslands to guide conservation decisions. The Palouse Prairie is one such endangered grassland; a mid-elevation habitat found in Washington and Idaho, United States. Ants (Formicidae) are useful indicators of biodiversity and historical ecological disturbance, but there has been no structured sampling of ants in the Palouse Prairie. To fill this gap, we employed a rapid inventory sampling approach using pitfall traps to capture peak ant activity in five habitat fragments. We complemented our survey with a systemic review of field studies for the ant species found in Palouse Prairie. Our field inventory yielded 17 ant species across 10 genera and our models estimate the total ant species pool to be 27. The highest ant diversity was found in an actively-managed ecological trust in Latah County, Idaho, suggesting that restoration efforts may increase biodiversity. We also report two rarely-collected ants in the Pacific Northwest and a microgyne that may represent an undescribed species related to Brachymyrmex depilis . Our score-counting review revealed that grassland ants in Palouse Prairie have rarely been studied previously and that more ant surveys in temperate grasslands have lagged behind sampling efforts of other global biomes., (Kayla A Dilworth, Marek L Borowiec, Abigail L Cohen, Gabrielle S Mickelson, Elisabeth C Oeller, David W Crowder, Robert E Clark.)

Reliable distribution maps are in the basis of insect conservation, but detailed chorological information is lacking for many insects of conservation concern (the Wallacean shortfall). Museum collections, entomological publications and citizen science projects can contribute to solve this Wallacean shortfall. Their relative contribution to the knowledge on the distribution of threatened insects has been scarcely explored, but it is important given that each of these three sources of information has its own biases and costs. Here we explore the contribution of museum data, entomological publications and citizen science in delineating the distribution of the European stag beetle in Spain. Citizen science contributed the highest number of records and grid cells occupied, as well as the highest number of grid cells not contributed by any other information source (unique grid cells). Nevertheless, both museum data and publications contributed almost 25% of all unique grid cells. Furthermore, the relative contribution of each source of information differed in importance among Spanish provinces. Given the pros and cons of museum data, publications and citizen science, we advise their combined use in cases, such as the European stag beetle in Spain, in which a broad, heterogeneous, sparsely populated territory has to be prospected.

Background: Although conservation of pristine habitats is recognized in many countries as crucial for maintaining pollinator diversity, the contribution of secondary forest conservation is poorly recognized in the Latin American context, such as in Guatemala. San Lucas Tolimán (SLT) is a high-quality coffee production region from the Atitlan Province, which has the second highest deciduous forest cover in Guatemala and pristine forest is prioritized for conservation. In contrast, secondary forest protection is undetermined, since these forests are normally removed or strongly affected by coffee farming practices. This situation may affect the diversity of native pollinators, mainly bees, which usually rely on the secondary forest for food resources., Methods: We conducted a study to investigate the importance of secondary forests around the SLT coffee plantations ( Coffea arabica L.) for pollinators. We compared bee diversity (richness, abundance and composition) in secondary forests of different age and coffee plantations with diverse farming techniques. Being the first study of pollinators in Guatemalan coffee plantations, we also recorded data for an entire year (2013-2014) in order to describe bee seasonality., Results: We found significant differences in bee diversity between the coffee plantations and secondary forests, particularly early secondary forests showed higher bee abundances but diversity indices were similar between different vegetation type plots. In the early dry season, secondary forests showed the greatest native bee diversity. During the late dry season, when the coffee was flowering, honey bees were dominant in the same plots. This study provides important management insights to support the conservation of pollinators, since our results offer guidelines to improve coffee production by increasing native pollinator diversity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2020 Armas-Quiñonez et al.)

Although we have known anecdotally that insects have been declining in Great Britain for more than 100 years, insect declines have only been statistically estimated over the last 20 years. Estimation of the rate of those declines is still hotly debated, fuelled by a lack of standardised, systematically collected data.More than 24 million individual moths and aphids collected from 112 light traps and 25 12.2 m suction-traps, respectively, were analysed using mixed models. Our objective was to estimate the long-term trends in both groups based on annual totals recorded every year between 1969 and 2016.The models showed that two paradigms existed: Over 47 years, long-term linear trends showed that moths had declined significantly by -31%, but short-term trends indicated that there were periods of significant decline and recovery in most decades since the 1960s. Conversely, despite aphid annual totals fluctuating widely, this group was in a steady state over the long-term, with a non-significant decline of -7.6%. Sensitivity analysis revealed that moth trends were not driven by a group of abundant species, but the sign of the overall aphid trends may have been driven by three of the most abundant species.The spatial extent of moth trends suggests that they are extremely heterogeneous. Uniquely, moth declines were different among several habitat types, with robust significant declines found in coastal, urban and woodland habitats, but notably not in agricultural, parkland and scrubland habitats. Conversely, aphid trends showed spatial synchrony extending to 338 km, albeit with local variation., (© 2020 The Authors. Insect Conservation and Diversity published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society.)

Pheromone-baited traps can be excellent tools for sensitive detection of insects of conservation concern. Here, identification of the sex pheromone of Trichopteryx polycommata (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775), an under-recorded UK priority species, is reported. In analyses of extracts of the pheromone glands of female T. polycommata by gas chromatography coupled to electroantennographic recording from the antenna of a male moth, a single active component was detected. This was identified as (Z,Z)-6,9-nonadecadiene (Z,Z6,9-19:H) by comparison of its mass spectrum and retention times with those of the synthetic standard. In a pilot field trial in Kent, UK, T. polycommata males were caught in pheromone traps baited with lures loaded with 1 mg and 2 mg (Z,Z)-6,9-19:H. Optimum lure loading was identified in a further five trials in Kent, Sussex and Lancashire where lures of 0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 2, 5 and 10 mg loadings were tested. Traps baited with 1 to 10 mg of ZZ6,9-19:H caught significantly more T. polycommata than traps baited with 0 mg and 0.001 mg. In a pilot survey of T. polycommata using pheromone lures around Morecambe Bay, UK, T. polycommata males were captured at 122 new sites within the three counties where trials took place, demonstrating the potential of pheromone monitoring to increase knowledge of abundance, distribution and ecology of this elusive species.

Naturally fragmented landscapes provide suitable scenarios through which to investigate patch and landscape effects on biodiversity patterns in areas that are isolated from the disturbances usually associated with human-made fragments. We aimed to investigate the patch and landscape effects on the diversity of forest-dependent and matrix-tolerant dung beetles in a naturally fragmented landscape. We also assessed the influence that seasonal and vegetation variations had on these dung beetles. We sampled dung beetles during two summers and two winters in 14 forest islands of various sizes and shapes within a natural mountainous forest archipelago in southeast Brazil. We measured the patch and landscape variables based on high-resolution multispectral images of circular sectors with radii of 100, 250, and 500 m. We used generalized linear mixed models to relate dung beetle metrics to patch and landscape attributes. The interaction between canopy cover and season influenced both species' richness and abundance of the dung beetle metacommunity. The forest-dependent species' richness increased with greater canopy cover, regardless of the season. Patch attributes (e.g., size, canopy cover, distance to the closest patch, and distance to continuous forest) and landscape attributes (e.g., percentage of forest in the landscape, total edge, number of patches, distance to the nearest neighbor, and shape complexity) had small general effects on dung beetle species as a whole and on matrix-tolerant species in particular. However, these values strongly influenced forest-dependent species' richness, abundance, and temporal beta diversity. The matrix-tolerant species, therefore, mask the effects of patch and landscape effects on forest-dependent species within the mountainous forest archipelago. In other words, the changes in these patch and landscape attributes influenced forest-dependent and matrix-tolerant species differently. Therefore, the evaluation of entire metacommunities may not be helpful when evaluating species-specific responses in mixed landscapes-a fact that impairs the conservation of forest-dependent species., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Congruence between plant and insect diversity is considered possibly useful in conservation planning, as the better known plants could be surrogates for the lesser known insects. There has been little quantification of congruence across space, especially in biodiversity rich areas. We compare here species richness, and turnover relationships between plants and flower-visiting insects across space (0.5-80 km) in natural areas of a biodiversity hotspot, the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. A total of 22,352 anthophile individuals in 198 species and 348 plant species were sampled. A comparison between the plants and anthophiles suggest significant concordance between the two assemblages. However, turnover was weaker in plants than in anthophiles. Plant turnover decreased with greater geographical distance between plot pairs. In contrast, insect turnover remained high with increasing geographical distance between plot pairs. These findings suggest that while patterns of plant diversity and distribution shape flower-visiting insect assemblages, they are not reliable surrogates. The conservation significance of these results is that specialist mutualisms are at greatest risk, and that set-asides on farms would help improve the functional connectivity leading to the maintenance of the full range of mutualisms., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

For herbivorous insects the importance of larval food plants is obvious, yet the role of host abundance and density in conservation are relatively understudied. Populations of Speyeria butterflies across North America have declined and Speyeria adiaste is an imperiled species endemic to the southern California Coast Ranges. In this paper, we study the link between the food plant Viola purpurea quercetorum and abundance of its herbivore Speyeria adiaste clemencei to better understand the butterfly's decline and aid in restoration of this and other Speyeria species. To assess the degree to which the larval food plant limits adult abundance of S. a. clemencei in 2013, we compared adult population counts to population size predicted from a Monte Carlo simulation using data for number of V. pur. quercetorum plants, number of leaves per plant, and leaf area per plant, with lab estimates of leaf area consumed to reach pupal stage on the non-native host V. papilionacea . Results indicated an average estimate of 765 pupae (median = 478), with 77% of the distribution being <1000 pupae. However, this was heavily dependent on plant distribution, and accounting for the number of transect segments with sufficient host to support a pupa predicted 371 pupae. The adult population empirical estimate was 227 individuals (95% CI is 146 to 392), which lies near the first quartile of the simulated distribution. These results indicate that the amount of host available to larvae was more closely linked to adult abundance than the amount of host present , especially when considering assumptions of the analyses. The data also indicate that robust populations require host density well in excess of what is eaten by larvae, in combination with appropriate spacing, to mitigate factors such as competition, starvation from leaving host patches, or unrelated to food plant, such as mortality from drought, predators, parasites, or disease.

The considerable threats of invasive rodents to island biodiversity are likely to be compounded by climate change. Forecasts for such interactions have been most pronounced for the Southern Ocean islands where ameliorating conditions are expected to decrease thermal and resource restrictions on rodents. Firm evidence for changing rodent populations in response to climate change, and demonstrations of associated impacts on the terrestrial environment, are nonetheless entirely absent for the region. Using data collected over three decades on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, we tested empirically whether mouse populations have changed through time and whether these changes can be associated significantly with changing abiotic conditions. Changes in invertebrate populations, which have previously been attributed to mouse predation, but with little explicit demographic analysis, were also examined to determine whether they can be associated with changing mouse populations. The total number of mice on the island at annual peak density increased by 430.0% between 1979-1980 and 2008-2011. This increase was due to an advanced breeding season, which was robustly related to the number of precipitation-free days during the non-breeding season. Mice directly reduced invertebrate densities, with biomass losses of up to two orders of magnitude in some habitats. Such invertebrate declines are expected to have significant consequences for ecosystem processes over the long term. Our results demonstrate that as climate change continues to create ameliorating conditions for invasive rodents on sub-Antarctic islands, the severity of their impacts will increase. They also emphasize the importance of rodent eradication for the restoration of invaded islands., (© 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.)

The variety of local animal sounds characterizes a landscape. We used ecoacoustics to noninvasively assess the species richness of various biotopes typical of an ecofriendly forest plantation with diverse ecological gradients and both nonnative and indigenous vegetation. The reference area was an adjacent large World Heritage Site protected area (PA). All sites were in a global biodiversity hotspot. Our results showed how taxa segregated into various biotopes. We identified 65 singing species, including birds, frogs, crickets, and katydids. Large, natural, protected grassland sites in the PA had the highest mean acoustic diversity (14.1 species/site). Areas covered in nonnative timber or grass species were devoid of acoustic species. Sites grazed by native and domestic megaherbivores were fairly rich (5.1) in acoustic species but none were unique to this habitat type, where acoustic diversity was greater than in intensively managed grassland sites (0.04). Natural vegetation patches inside the plantation mosaic supported high mean acoustic diversity (indigenous forests 7.6, grasslands 8.0, wetlands 9.1), which increased as plant heterogeneity and patch size increased. Indigenous forest patches within the plantation mosaic contained a highly characteristic acoustic species assemblage, emphasizing their complementary contribution to local biodiversity. Overall, acoustic signals determined spatial biodiversity patterns and can be a useful tool for guiding conservation., (© 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.)

The eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.) population in North America hit record low numbers during the 2013-2014 overwintering season, prompting pleas by scientists and conservation groups to plant the butterfly's milkweed host plants (Asclepias spp.) in residential areas. While planting butterfly gardens with host plants seems like an intuitive action, no previous study has directly compared larval survival in gardens and natural areas to demonstrate that gardens are suitable habitats for Lepidoptera. In this study, milkweed was planted in residential gardens and natural areas. In 2009 and 2010, plants were monitored for oviposition by monarch butterflies and survival of monarch eggs and caterpillars. Monarchs oviposited significantly more frequently in gardens than in natural sites, with 2.0 and 6.2 times more eggs per plant per observation in 2009 and 2010, respectively. There were no significant differences in overall subadult survival between gardens and natural areas. Significant differences in survival were measured for egg and larval cohorts when analyzed separately, but these were not consistent between years. These results suggest that planting gardens with suitable larval host plants can be an effective tool for restoring habitat for monarch butterflies. If planted over a large area, garden plantings may be useful as a partial mitigation for dramatic loss of monarch habitat in agricultural settings., (© The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Rarity is often considered an indication of species extinction risk, and it is frequently used to obtain measures of species vulnerability. However, there is no strong evidence of a correlation between species vulnerability and threat. Moreover, there is no consensus about how rarity should be measured. I used a multidimensional characterization of species rarity to calculate a vulnerability index for tenebrionid beetles inhabiting an Italian region in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot. I used different metrics to examine 3 dimensions of rarity: species range, ecology, and population. Species with rarity values below the median were scored as rare for each dimension. I combined rarity scores into a vulnerability index. I then correlated species vulnerability with range trends (expanded vs. contracted). Different measures of the same rarity dimension were strongly correlated and produced similar vulnerability scores. This result indicates rarity-based vulnerability estimates are slightly affected by the way a certain rarity dimension is measured. Vulnerability was correlated with range trends; species with the highest vulnerability had the strongest range contraction. However, a large number of common species also underwent range contraction in the last 50 years, and there was no clear relation between range contraction and their ecology. This indicates that in general human-induced environmental changes affected species irrespective of their assumed vulnerability and that focusing only on rare species may severely bias perceptions of the extent of species decline., (© 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.)

Because of their vast diversity, measured by both numbers of species as well as life history traits, insects defy comprehensive conservation planning. Thus, almost all insect conservation efforts target individual species. However, serious insect conservation requires goals that are set at the faunal level and conservation success requires strategies that conserve intact communities. This task is complicated in agricultural landscapes by high levels of habitat fragmentation and isolation. In many regions, once widespread insect communities are now functionally trapped on islands of ecosystem remnants and subject to a variety of stressors associated with isolation, small population sizes and artificial population fragmentation. In fragmented landscapes ecological restoration can be an effective strategy for reducing localized insect extinction rates, but insects are seldom included in restoration design criteria. It is possible to incorporate a few simple conservation criteria into restoration designs that enhance impacts to entire insect communities. Restoration can be used as a strategy to address fragmentation threats to isolated insect communities if insect communities are incorporated at the onset of restoration planning. Fully incorporating insect communities into restoration designs may increase the cost of restoration two- to three-fold, but the benefits to biodiversity conservation and the ecological services provided by intact insect communities justify the cost.