Search

This dataset contains data from a field study conducted in 2020 described in the paper "A Comparison of different Malaise trap types" by Uhler et al. (https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12604 We tested five common types of Malaise traps, three Townes style traps and two Bartak style traps, in terms of captured insect biomass, species richness, and richness of taxonomic and functional groups.The type of Malaise trap greatly affected estimates of insect biomass, species richness and species composition. In particular, trap shape, rather than size dictated both biomass and species richness.In addition, our results suggest that the trap color affects trap catch, with a white-roofed trap attracting more flower visiting taxa, increasing trap catch but also possibly introducing a bias by altering the species composition., The Readme file contains an explanation of all variables of the main dataset used in the analyses and their measurement units. For easy access to all analyses and script outputs, see the attached html file.

Recently reported insect declines have raised both political and social concern. Although the declines have been attributed to land use and climate change, supporting evidence suffers from low taxonomic resolution, short time series, a focus on local scales, and the collinearity of the identified drivers. In this study, we conducted a systematic assessment of insect populations in southern Germany, which showed that differences in insect biomass and richness are highly context dependent. We found the largest difference in biomass between semi-natural and urban environments (−42%), whereas differences in total richness (−29%) and the richness of threatened species (−56%) were largest from semi-natural to agricultural environments. These results point to urbanization and agriculture as major drivers of decline. We also found that richness and biomass increase monotonously with increasing temperature, independent of habitat. The contrasting patterns of insect biomass and richness question the use of these indicators as mutual surrogates. Our study provides support for the implementation of more comprehensive measures aimed at habitat restoration in order to halt insect declines., Land use is a key control of insect communities. Here the authors investigate relationships of insect biomass and richness with land use along a climate gradient, finding evidence of urbanisation and agriculture as drivers of decline, and of biomass and species richness not being suitable as mutual surrogates.