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Hands-on activities are considered to be particularly suitable for generating long-term knowledge that increases environmentally friendly behaviour. Appropriate flagship species in a respective curricular context can enable high-quality education. We have developed a teaching concept and material for hands-on activities with bumblebees. This includes aspects of outdoor bumblebee-keeping in a teaching unit, together with the identification of bumblebee species and conservation activity in the context of biodiversity; bumblebees can act as umbrella species because their conservation needs incidentally protect other species. Moreover, the project involves keeping bumblebees indoors in a teaching unit that covers ethology and neurobiology. A total sample size of 188 German high school students from the fifth to seventh grade (lower and intermediate secondary-school levels) participated in the project. We measured students' knowledge about bumblebees in general and insect decline, as well as fear of bumblebees in a pre-test, post-test and follow-up test. Learning enjoyment was also measured in the post-test. Students acquired long-lasting knowledge and considerably enjoyed the learning experience. Fear of bumblebees decreased long-term, although knowledge that bumblebees can sting increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xiphocentronidae comprises eight genera found across tropical regions. In Brazil, two genera are present: Xiphocentron Brauer, 1870 and Machairocentron Schmid, 1982. Xiphocentron is further divided into five subgenera: Xiphocentron (Antillotrichia) Banks, 1941, X. (Glyphocentron) Schmid, 1982, X. (Rhamphocentron) Schmid, 1982, X. (Sphagocentron) Schmid, 1982, and X. (Xiphocentron). Xiphocentron (Antillotrichia) is the most species-rich subgenus and the only one occurring in South America. In Brazil, there are 18 species of X. (Antillotrichia), mainly distributed in the Atlantic Forest, with one species recorded in the Brazilian Amazon. Machairocentron, another Neotropical genus, comprises nine species, but only one species is known in Brazil. Recent research in the Brazilian Amazon led to the discovery of three new species of Xiphocentron: Xiphocentron (Antillotrichia) moasp. n., Xiphocentron tapajossp. n., and Xiphocentron (Antillotrichia) xingusp. n. This study describes and illustrates these species, focusing on adult males, and highlighting the distinctive morphology of segment IX and inferior appendages. New distribution records are provided for X. (Antillotrichia) sclerothrix Pes & Hamada, 2013 and M. falciforme Pes & Hamada, 2013. Additionally, M. amahuaca Vilarino, Salles & Bispo, 2023 and X. (Antillotrichia) surinamense Flint, 1974 are reported for the first time in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas can be both detrimental for pollinators or function as suitable habitats, depending on the land-use type, the urban context and the pollinator group in focus. Urban green spaces, including gardens, parks or cemeteries can provide essential resources for a wide range of pollinator groups, like wild bees, hoverflies and beetles. Urban community gardens can be particularly structurally complex and harbour a diverse range of nesting and food resources for pollinators. However, we know little about how garden features may vary with the urban context of gardens and which specific garden features can increase the abundance of pollinators in general and of different pollinator groups. Over two summer seasons, we recorded garden features and pollinators using flower observations in 33 urban community gardens in Munich and Berlin, Germany. We examined how garden features differ amongst urban community gardens from three urbanisation categories, and analysed the effects of garden features such as floral and nesting resources and landscape imperviousness (as indicator of urbanisation) on pollinator abundance, richness and diversity. In more urbanised gardens, flower richness and bare substrate were less prevalent. Flower richness was positively correlated with overall pollinator abundance, richness and diversity as well as with the abundances of all pollinator taxa excluding beetles. Landscape imperviousness was negatively correlated with hoverfly and beetle abundances. Hoverflies also decreased with increasing bare substrate and wasp abundance decreased with increasing deadwood availability. Our findings highlight the important role of flower richness for insect conservation in urban management and show that pollinator taxa react differently to garden features and urbanisation. To support pollinating insects, gardeners can increase flower richness, especially in highly urbanised areas. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of insect biodiversity is a major global sustainability issue that is highly relevant to science education. Science education can support and develop learners' competence to take actions to sustain insect biodiversity and empower learners to deal actively with this sustainability issue. However, we currently lack an instrument to assess these aspects of individual competence. This paper aims to fill this gap by introducing the Self-Perceived Action Competence for Insect Conservation scale (SPACIC). This scale allows for investigating learners' action competence by focusing on self-perceived knowledge, confidence, and willingness to take insect conservation actions. The scale is grounded in theory and face-validated by external experts. The piloting with 180 secondary school students showed a good quality of the instrument in terms of reliability and validity, as the reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analysis show. The SPACIC scale is applicable to various formal and informal educational settings. Applying the scale can yield information about the effects of educational approaches and inform learners, educators, and researchers about changes in self-perceived competence. In this way, the SPACIC scale can contribute to the evaluation and design of educational approaches and eventually boost learners' development into becoming active environmental citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cameras are increasingly used by ecologists to study species distribution and interactions. They are mainly used to study large animals such as mammals but can also be used to record small invertebrates, including insects. Camera traps, capturing images within a specified field of view, can be used for biomonitoring and investigating insect‐related interactions, such as predation. Understanding predation on insect prey has direct implications for agriculture and conservation biology, enabling predator species identification and quantification of biological control. This review examines 28 studies published between 1988 and March 2024 focusing on the use of cameras to monitor insect predator–prey interactions, predominantly targeting agricultural pests. Studies varied in recording equipment used and tended to be spatially and temporally limited, making results difficult to generalise at larger scale. We provide an overview of equipment options, camera settings, the merits of video versus picture recording, night‐time imaging strategies, trigger mechanisms, equipment costs, and strategies for managing theft and vandalism. Additionally, we discuss avenues for improving image processing efficiency, including enhancing predator identification through artificial intelligence methods. Challenges related to limitations in the taxonomic levels of predator identification are also addressed. Finally, we offer guidelines for researchers interested in using camera technology and propose future perspectives on their use in insect conservation and biocontrol efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road verges can support high densities of flowers and could therefore provide new opportunities for the conservation of flower‐visiting insects. One way of optimizing road verges for vascular plant diversity is to adjust mowing regimes, but to date it is unclear how this affects flower‐visiting insects. Furthermore, for mobile organisms like wild bees and butterflies, there is a risk that the benefit of increased habitat quality in road verges is limited by the proximity to traffic, but this is poorly studied.In a crossed study design, we separated mowing time and frequency (early summer and autumn, or only late summer) from road verge habitat classification (valuable for biodiversity according to transport authority, or regular). We did so along a gradient of traffic intensity, to investigate if a mowing regime designed to enhance plant diversity can also benefit wild bees and butterflies, and if traffic limits the conservation potential of road verges.Road verges that were mown only in late summer had higher flower densities, and there was a positive relationship between flower density and wild bee abundance and species richness. Butterfly abundance and species richness only benefitted from a late summer mowing in valuable but not in regular road verges.Traffic intensity had a substantial negative impact on abundance and species richness of wild bees and butterflies. Higher traffic intensities limited the positive relationship between plant and butterfly species richness that we observed at lower traffic intensities. Increasing width of the road verges buffered negative effects of the traffic on wild bee as well as butterfly abundances, and on wild bee species richness.Synthesis and applications. Road verges can play a valuable role for the conservation of wild bees and butterflies, but there is a need to consider both traffic intensity and resource availability when implementing management strategies. To support wild bee and butterfly diversity, we recommend actions to enhance plant species richness and flower resource availability, and to focus these conservation efforts on roads with low traffic intensity, or on wide road verges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The presence of the Africanized bee on the American continent allowed hybridization processes, which led to a high genetic diversity. However, distinct morphotypes with unique characteristics emerge at different altitudinal levels across the continent. Ecuador possesses high biodiversity and offers ideal conditions for Africanized hybrid development. Nevertheless, it is crucial to identify the formation of morphotypes adapted to the area in order to propose conservation plans for these insects, since individuals with excellent behavior in both hygiene and defensiveness, desirable traits in Africanized bees, have been observed previously. Seventy-five samples were collected from 15 beehives in the central highlands of Ecuador (Tungurahua–Chimborazo) to assess Africanization in managed bee populations using wing geometric morphometric and mitochondrial DNA analyses. The results indicated that when grouping the apiaries based on altitudinal floors into 2600–2800, 2801–3000, and 3001–3274 m above sea level, differences (p < 0.001) were observed. The morphotypes were similar in the first two floors, but the third indicated that altitude plays a crucial role in the differentiation of populations. When comparing with the pure subspecies, we found differences (p < 0.001); the nearest Mahalanobis distance was for Apis mellifera scutellata (D2 = 3.51), with 95.8% Africanization via father in the area. The maternal origin of all patterns belonged to lineage A (A. m. scutellata), with seven haplotypes. The most frequent haplotypes were A26 and A1; however, the A1q haplotype was not detected at the national level or in nearby countries. The identified haplotypes do not coincide with A4, which is predominant in South Africa and Brazil. The results indicate a double origin due to their presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The formation of specific morphological groups within ecoregions is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high Andean mountains are ecosystems subject to high human pressure activities, resulting in disturbed areas increasingly dominating the landscapes. However, there needs to have more knowledge about the contributions of different vegetation coverages and species to global diversity at the local level. For three consecutive years, we studied a guild of fruit-feeding butterflies in four different land covers (cloud forests, paramo, mixed anthropogenic habitats, and cattle pastures) in the northern Andes in Colombia, analyzing the diversity and structure of the butterfly assemblage in the region. The assembly showed significant differences between land covers. The mixed habitat was the most diverse in order q1 (exponential of Shannon entropy) and q2 (inverse of Gini-Simpson dominance index) diversity, and the cloud forest contained the higher abundance and species richness. Abundance decreased from forest to pasture, significantly reducing diversity in pastures, with cloud forest and paramo containing the key endemic species. These results indicate the value of landscape diversity in providing resources and conditions required for the diversity conservation of high Andean butterflies. Implications for insect conservation: This study highlights the significance of the heterogeneity of natural landscape components in maintaining and preserving the diversity of butterfly assemblages in high Andean environments. Current conservation plans often tend to focus on paramo habitats, our findings highlight the crucial role of including the surrounding cloud forest and associated secondary forest in the design of effective conservation strategies. The analysis revealed a high complementarity between paramo and cloud forest assemblages, with each habitat type contributing significantly to the regional species pool. This underscores the interconnectedness and interdependence of these habitats, indicating that a comprehensive approach that considers both paramo and cloud forest ecosystems is essential for conserving the full diversity of butterfly species in the region. Moreover, our results demonstrate that cattle pastures exhibit extremely low butterfly species richness and possess a community structure that is distinctly different from native habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many other anthropogenic habitats, log piles are mainly built in urban areas as a species-specific conservation measure for the European stag beetle (Lucanus cervus). As little is known about the success of this measure, we aim to study their success and longevity based on 100 small log piles that were followed up with emergence traps. Log piles were colonised the first year of building and beetles emerged up to 13 years later, with most beetles emerging after eight years. Overall, 67% of the log piles had emerging beetles: Quercus robur log piles (80%) were more successful than Fagus sylvatica (58%) and Populus x canadensis (50%). Overall, 177 ± 5, 131 ± 5 and 89 ± 5 beetles emerged per 1 m³ wood used in the log pile for oak, beech, and poplar respectively, but tree species had no effect on the size of the beetles. The emergence phenology was explained by a degree-day model with 6.6 °C as baseline temperature, predicting start and end of the emergence around 620 and 810 accumulated degree-days. Implications for insect conservation: We conclude that log piles are a successful conservation measure for the European stag beetle but distance to populations and abiotic characteristics need to be considered. For conserving this species in urban areas, we propose to build a network of log piles and to build new log piles about every ten years while retaining the old log piles. As the log piles are used by several species, they can also be useful for the conservation of other saproxylic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the many forest-dwelling invertebrates, saproxylic species play a key role in decomposition and nutrient cycling. Several saproxylic insects are threatened with extinction and depend on strict microhabitat features. Hoverflies play a key role in pollination and can be used as bioindicators of habitat conditions. Mallota fuciformis is a rarely observed saproxylic hoverfly internationally recognised as a species of conservation interest. We sampled Mallota fuciformis in oak-hornbeam stands and alluvial woodland with a standardised observation protocol of adults on flowering Prunus trees. This new sampling method proved to be efficient and non-invasive, eliminating the need to collect specimens of this rare species. Overall, 48 out of 86 sites investigated were found to be positive for the presence of the species, significantly increasing knowledge about its distribution in the region. We tested several environmental predictors to explain M. fuciformis detection, but only three were significant for the model: the presence of overmature Quercus trees, the presence of alluvial plants and the current size of the forest. Other predictors considered as proxies of landscape and past condition of the woodland showed no effect. These data confirmed the importance of the quality of forest woods (mainly the presence of large oak trees that ensure larvae development) to allow the presence of this saproxylic species. Implications for insect conservation: In the present study, we investigate the distribution and habitat requirements of M. fuciformis in order to find forest features that could be beneficial also for other, more threatened saproxylic species. This research underlines the importance of veteran trees and their microhabitats in the conservation of saproxylic species of hoverflies. We also provide an effective ad hoc protocol to monitor the target hoverfly species, which can be implemented in the assessment of rare species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Pamphagidae species are at risk of being endangered due to their flightlessness, low mobility, and small habitat range. For the same reason, Haplotropis brunneriana (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae) has been designated an endangered species in South Korea. Endangered species with small populations are difficult to observe and investigate because any damage or disturbance to them are prohibited. To address these problems, we first performed non-invasive genomic DNA (gDNA) extraction using exuviae to identify H. brunneriana. Second, we tested the limit of detection of gDNA in the exuviae and how long it could persist when exposed to artificial environmental conditions. Using exuviae, we identified cytochrome b as a species-specific marker of H. brunneriana that could distinguish them from other grasshoppers with sufficient specificity. In the limit of detection test, gDNA could persist and be amplified from exuviae for up to 40 days. Our results demonstrated that fewer than 10 days is recommended for amplifying gDNA from exuviae to obtain reproducible results. In conclusion, this non-invasive identification method using exuviae can be used as an alternative to species identification when it is difficult to find H. brunneriana in the habitat and has the advantage of allowing genetic research to be conducted without harming the endangered species. Implications for insect conservation: Our study used a non-invasive genomic DNA extraction method to conserve endangered grasshoppers. Using exuviae, endangered grasshopper species could be identified, thus confirming their presence or absence in the habitat. This identification method can be an alternative method that can be used when conducting genetic analyses accompanied by physical harm is difficult due to small populations, such as endangered and rare species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuarine floodplain forests and mangroves play an important ecological role in nature. Little is known, however, about the contribution of these environments and their surroundings to the maintenance of pollinating insects, specifically bees. We investigate the effects of these forest types and the structure of the surrounding landscape, at different spatial scales, on bee communities along the Brazilian Amazon coast. We collected bees using Malaise traps and aromatic baits at 23 collection points in estuarine floodplain forests and 24 in mangroves, along a gradient of landscape composition and configuration, throughout 2020. We collected a total of 1420 specimens from 49 bee species. The abundance, richness, and diversity of bees were significantly greater in the estuarine floodplain, and the two forests differed significantly in species composition. Landscape heterogeneity positively affected the abundance, richness, diversity, and composition of bees around forests. Finally, we identified nine indicator species for estuarine floodplains and two for mangroves. Our results suggest that the two forests preserve distinct bee communities that are apparently adapted to each environment, as they respond differently to landscape structure. Implications for insect conservation: Our results demonstrate that the conservation of native vegetation along the Amazon coast is essential for the conservation of biodiversity, highlighting that estuarine floodplains and mangroves, although they present differences in structural complexity and variety of pollen resources, play a crucial role in the conservation of bees. Furthermore, maintaining diverse landscapes in the vicinity of these phytophysiognomies is essential for maintaining the richness of bee species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-nesting bees are susceptible to disturbances that affect foraging resources, vegetation structure and soil characteristics. We studied the effects of 12 invasive alien plant species on environmental variables and directly on ground-nesting bees to reveal their specific importance. We sampled bees along transects; flowers, vegetation, bare ground and litter in quadrats, as well as soil characteristics. Our results suggested that plant invasion reduced overall and flowering plant richness and positively affected the height of native vegetation. However, this did not affect ground-nesting bees' abundance or species richness. Although we found invaded plots to have altered soil chemical characteristics compared to control plots, there was no correlation between soil characteristics and ground-nesting bees. The large explanatory potential of the random factors suggests that there were large differences in the abundance and species richness of ground-nesting bee species among the different habitat types and before and during the flowering of the invasive species. Although our study lacked a direct sampling of nesting bees, our results show the adverse effects of plant invasion on foraging and some nesting characteristics of ground-nesting bees. Future studies should put effort into the investigation of the number of nest holes and additional soil characteristics to get a better picture of the effects of plant invasion on ground-nesting activity. Implications for insect conservation: Our results suggest that ground-nesting bees are affected by alien plant invasion through their foraging resources, while plant invasion seemed to have a lower effect on nesting availability. Invasive alien plants should be eradicated and invaded areas restored to reduce adverse effects on the native plant community, soil and ultimately ground-nesting bees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetlands belong to the most endangered habitats in the world, and animals and plants occurring there are subjects of nature conservation efforts worldwide. Several species of bees and wasps have been comprehensively studied in recent years, but the biology and ecology of wetland-associated species remain largely enigmatic. The results showed that some of these species can be good bioindicators, useful in nature conservation. Hylaeus pectoralis is a small wetland-associated bee that is dependent on the presence of its nesting resource, cigar galls formed by the frit fly Lipara lucens on stems of common reed. We studied the presence of this bee species between 2011 and 2023, both in near-natural and anthropogenic habitats. This bee requires the presence of terrestrial reed with reed galls and occurs nearly exclusively in long-lasting localities of near-natural character with wet meadows rich in flowering plants. Our results showed that H. pectoralis requires mosaic sites with reed beds combined with wet meadows. The proportion of wet meadows in the H. pectoralis localities is more prominent than in localities where H. pectoralis was absent. The bee is polylectic, and we enlarged the number of pollen sources to plants of 22 families—the collected pollen was from plants of many habitats, including plants of wet meadows and aquatic plants. Though recording of H. pectoralis in the locality is simple using the rearing from collected reed galls, this ecologically sensitive species can be used as an essential bioindicator for the quality of wetland habitats and the studies of the continuity of the habitats. Implications for insect conservation: The presence of the mosaic of wet meadows with flowering plants, small reed beds, reed margins, and small water reservoirs is necessary not only for Hylaeus pectoralis but also for other biota of wetlands. Mowing of reed margins should be implemented to only a part of the habitat. This mosaic management allows the preservation of old Lipara-induced galls needed for nesting of ecologically sensitive bees and wasps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Originally, the coastal region of East Africa was largely covered with coastal forest. With the human settlement, the majority of these forests have been transformed into agricultural land for subsistence farming. Today, only small and geographically isolated forest remnants exist and form a mosaic of different habitat types, including natural, semi-natural and anthropogenic ones. The forest remnants may still represent valuable habitats for typical forest plant and animal species. Methods: In this study, we surveyed hymenopteran diversity and community composition in different habitat types in southern Kenya. Hereby we considered a small remnant of East African coastal forest, adjoining orchards, shrublands, tree plantations, agricultural fields, and settlements. Hymenoptera represent a large variety of taxa and provide relevant ecosystem services such as pollination to the local people. Hymenoptera were collected with coloured pan traps, identified to family or genus level, and sorted to morphospecies. Habitat parameters such as dead wood, leaf litter, vegetation structure, and the availability of flowers has been assessed for each study site. Results: In total, we found 419 Hymenoptera individuals of 153 morphospecies. The different habitat types showed distinct species communities of Hymenoptera. Increasing shrub layer and increasing herb cover had a negative effect on hymenopteran species richness and abundance. Flowers, trees, leave litter, and deadwood showed no significant effect on hymenopteran diversity. Conclusion: Our results underline that small-scale habitat diversity lead to high overall diversity of Hymenoptera. Implications for insect conservation: The coastal forest remnant still holds a unique hymenopteran community with 20 Hymenoptera species exclusively found in this habitat type. It is thus of very high conservation value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odonates are widely considered to be bioindicators of freshwater habitat quality. Somatochlora arctica (Corduliidae) is commonly found across Eurasia, predominantly in North and Central Europe, but in the UK, it has a restricted range and is listed as near threatened despite a large, potential habitat availability. Across their range, larvae are found in Sphagnum-filled bog pools near coniferous woodlands, but detailed data on their habitat requirements are limited and often overlooked in favour of adult surveys which inhibits conservation efforts. This study surveyed three areas across Scotland: Abernethy & Loch Garten National Nature Reserve (NNR), Beinn Eighe NNR and Flanders Moss NNR, to evaluate how different environmental factors per pool (e.g. water depth and chemistry, Sphagnum coverage, woodland distance, etc.) affect the presence of S. arctica larvae. We found a higher occurrence of S. arctica larvae when pools were located close to woodlands (i.e. 0–10 m), and had high coverage of Sphagnum (> 90%). Environmental variables in pools surveyed (i.e. conductivity, water depth, pH and water temperature) had no significant effects on S. arctica presence. Implications for insect conservation: Our results highlight and discuss the importance of nearby woodlands and Sphagnum cover for S. arctica larvae. Future conservation projects should consider the proximity of woodland to current and restored S. arctica sites or promoting expansion of surrounding natural woodland patches to benefit S. arctica and potentially other odonates sharing similar ecological preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms, but their large number of species and the lack of specialists to study them have made this group particularly vulnerable to the main limitations in biological diversity, such as the Wallacean deficit. This study will contribute to the geographical knowledge of an insect trophic guild that has been widely used as an indicator group, the Scarabaeoidea and Silphidae copro-necrophagous beetles, emphasizing their geographical distribution in two Mexican national parks (Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatepetl and La Malinche) and the intermediate region, which includes sky-island ecosystems in central Mexico. Geographic records of the 32 species that have been previously recorded in the study region were compiled and used to generate potential distribution models aiming to generate potential alpha (species richness) and beta (total beta diversity, nestedness and replacement) diversity maps. The greatest predicted species richness was found between 3,000 and 3,500 m a.s.l. in the study region. Potential species richness ranged from 2 to 24 species. Total beta diversity was low in the study region (mean 0.1), while nestedness was the most important component of beta diversity (0.8). The maximum alpha and beta diversity values were predicted outside the national parks. Consequently, we consider that the studied national parks are not able to protect completely the regional alpha and beta diversities by themselves. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that the highest alfa and beta diversity values of copro-necrophagous beetles might occur outside the national parks, and a suitable way to protect them could be the Archipelago reserve model as an alternative to protect the regional diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of the Brazilian Cerrado has been modified by human actions in the last decade with a significant increase in fires. Despite efforts to delimit an area for biodiversity conservation, human pressure on the landscape surrounding these units can affect the local environmental condition. We assessed the effect of landscape factors and fire occurrence on necrophagous Diptera diversity in different vegetation physiognomies of the Cerrado region in Chapada das Mesas National Park. We sampled in 35 sites in five physiognomies of the Cerrado biome (Open Forest or Cerradão, Dense Woodland, Gallery Forest, Park Woodland, and Woodland) using 350 traps to capture the Diptera specimens. We observed lower dipteran abundance and richness in the Gallery Forest compared to other physiognomies, and the species composition differed from all other physiognomies. Specifically, five species of Diptera were predominantly found in Open Forest or Cerradão, two species in Park Woodland, and one in Gallery Forest. The presence of species with generalist habits in forested physiognomies and the low abundance of expected forest-associated species in forest habitats suggests a decline in environmental quality in these areas. This serves as a warning sign for the ecological conditions of the Park's predominantly forested physiognomies. Implications for insect conservation: Our results highlight that despite the biodiversity of necrophagous dipterans observed in CMNP, ongoing fire frequency and anthropic activities within the park could severely undermine its ability to preserve Diptera biodiversity. Consequently, environmental agencies must intensify monitoring efforts and implement effective measures to mitigate human-induced impacts in this Brazilian Cerrado conservation unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental characteristics act as limiting factors for the establishment and survival of organisms, and this holds particular significance for ectothermic. Grammostola vachoni is an endemic Argentinean tarantula that inhabits central mountainous grasslands. In this study, we model their potential distribution and assess thermal parameters and vulnerability indices in unstudied populations to understand the species' survival limits. The models to explain the geographic distribution of G. vachoni demonstrate a non-random pattern and robust predictive capabilities. The monthly variables in December, October, and March were the greatest influence. Respect to thermal parameters calculated throughout locomotor performance, the critical thermal limits were 4.9 °C and 51.1 °C, and the preferred temperatures were correlated whit optimal temperature. According the occurrence probability, the species has a low probability of persisting in extreme coldest and hottest environments. In a more temperate environment, the probability increases, mostly at temperatures of about 35 °C. The thermal performance breadth was 19.30, the thermal tolerance range was 46.1 °C and the inferior and superior limits of B80 were 18.9 °C and 37.1 °C. Grammostola vachoni show a better performance at higher temperatures, and a preference for higher temperatures than other ectotherms. The diverse microclimates provide by the heterogeneous nature of mountain grassland outcrops can act as a refuge. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that grassland outcrops play a key role in maintaining the G. vachoni population, as these environments appear to be less affected in the future. Moreover, the species' locomotor performance could cope with future thermal shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most species co-evolve with their predators and develop strategies to avoid predation. This is not possible when a novel predator invades an environment. Native residents must quickly adapt to their new predator or face local extinction. Intense competition for mating opportunities exerts significant selective pressure that can drive the evolution of exaggerated structures across taxa. However, these elaborate traits can elevate the risk of predation for some organisms. In the present study, we observe the effect that rats have had on a population of endemic New Zealand stag beetles, Geodorcus helmsi. Rats in Rakiura | Stewart Island often prey on stag beetles, taking them to a sheltered area to eat them and discard any uneaten parts of the beetle, namely the head and mandibles. We compared the head size, mandible size and numbers of predated and non-predated male and female beetles in three sites in Rakiura | Stewart Island that differ in their abundance of mammalian predators. We found that the population demography and the size of the beetles differed significantly between sites. Additionally, we determined whether predated beetles were larger than non-predated beetles, across multiple years, regardless of site. We found that overall the predated specimens were larger than the non-predated beetles. The trends found here suggest that exaggeration of the male mandibles increases the predation risk of these iconic beetles, acting as a limit to mandible size. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show for the first time the effect that novel predators can have on a population of animals with exaggerated sexually selected traits. The presence of novel predators can cause a shift in both population demography and trait distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that urban life and less contact with nature can increase disgust towards insects and gardening reduces the level of disgust towards them. Since animals and plants are part of nature, our hypothesis in this research was that keeping animals and plants in the city is somehow contact with nature and has an effect on reducing disgust towards insects. To test this hypothesis, a questionnaire was distributed to 1092 people randomly in Kabul city. The level of disgust against ants and yellow jackets among those who raise animals and plants is lower than that of those who do not. The reasons for disgusting ants and yellow jackets included fear, contamination, appearance, lack of interaction, and unfamiliarity, and they were different between those who raise animals and plants and those who do not. The motivation to destroy ants and yellow jackets was higher among those who do not raise animals and plants. On the other side, there is a strong association between level of disgust and reaction against yellow jackets and ants. These findings show that raising animals and plants in the city can reduce the level of disgust against insects which supports their conservation. To reduce the disgust towards insects, we suggest encouraging the keeping of animals and plants in the city, and a decrease in the level of disgust will reduce a strong reaction (like killing) towards them. For more clarification, research is needed on the effects of different types of raising animals and plants. Implications for insect conservation: Raising animals and plants can reduce the level of disgust toward insects since the response to insects (No action, Eliminate or Escape, Kill) is closely correlated with that level of disgust. Therefore, encouraging the growth of animals and plants in cities is advised in order to preserve insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental modification resulting from human activities has negative consequences, including biodiversity loss and a decline in insect populations, which threaten crucial ecosystem functions. A comparative study was conducted in gallery forests with different conservation statuses (Good, Intermediate, and Unfavorable) in the Humid Chaco ecoregion, Chaco Province, Argentina. We hypothesize that the conservation status of gallery forests influences the diversity parameters, composition, and structure of ant assemblages because it provides better conditions, thereby increasing diversity parameters and resulting in distinct patterns of ant species composition. Samplings were conducted during the peak ant activity periods in the spring and summer seasons between 2017 and 2018. We collected 5363 specimens belonging to 108 species/morphospecies, 36 genera, and nine subfamilies. Furthermore, the effect of environmental variables (leaf litter thickness, distance from the river, canopy coverage, number of seedling trees, human footprint index, temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation) on community structures was assessed. The highest species richness and diversity were recorded in sites with good conservation status. Our findings highlight the importance of gallery forests as biological corridors for the protection of ant diversity. Additionally, the distinct ant community structures in forests of varying conservation statuses emphasize the need for effective conservation strategies in these types of habitats. Implications for insect conservation: This work highlights the crucial role of ants as indicators of environmental quality and the impact of forest conservation status on their diversity and structure. It underscores the need for conservation efforts to protect biological corridors and their unique ant communities in the Humid Chaco ecoregion, contributing to our understanding of ant diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the methods aimed at assessing carabid beetle diversity, pitfall trapping (PFT) is currently much more widely used than hand searching (HS). However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of these two methods based on the same sampling effort, none in mountain areas. Here, we compared PFT and HS in terms of accuracy of the species richness estimate, detection of threatened species and cost-effectiveness, based on equal time spent in the field. The study was conducted along an elevational gradient in the alpine zone of the French Pyrenees. Our results showed that recorded species richness was significantly greater when sampling was performed using HS, suggesting that PFT only detected a subset of the ground beetle assemblage existing at each sampling plot. HS was more effective at characterizing rare species, especially microendemic species threatened by climate change. HS also enabled better detection of small species and of winged species. Additionally, HS involves fewer logistical constraints in performing field work and prevents overkilling in fragile alpine populations. However, some of the benefits we have highlighted in favour of HS may be specific to the studied habitat type, calling for more studies in different mountain habitats. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that PFT alone does not allow for an accurate assessment of the conservation status of highly specialised alpine species, if they are small in size. Moreover, HS has a lower lethal impact on local insect populations. HS should therefore be recommended, whenever it is practically feasible, in the most sensitive and threatened high-alpine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian Cerrado is a biodiversity hotspot that has suffered significant vegetation loss in the states that make up the so-called MATOPIBA region in recent years an area currently experiencing soybean cultivation expansion in Brazil. This expansion can change the environmental conditions of freshwater streams, as they receive the impacts of activities occurring in their drainage basin. In this study, we assessed how anthropogenic activities impact the conservation status and environmental heterogeneity of streams and how these modifications affect the proportion between abundance and species richness among the suborders of Odonata (Anisoptera and Zygoptera). We also assessed whether conserved streams had a greater number of specialist species when compared to altered streams. To assess these objectives, we collected data from 24 streams within matrices presenting a gradient in their integrity and vegetation cover conditions. Altered areas showed a tendency higher to heterogeneity compared to preserved streams. As expected, we observed that the proportion of abundance and species richness of Zygoptera was higher in preserved streams, while for Anisoptera, it was higher in altered streams. Despite altered sites having higher environmental heterogeneity, we failed to register of a greater number of specialist species in these areas. This implies that the presence of riparian forests is essential for maintaining habitat integrity supporting the maintenance of species that are more sensitive to changes in environmental gradients. Implications for insect conservation: We underscore the significance of permanent protection areas in maintaining the habitat integrity of streams and preserving the diversity of Odonata species, particularly for Zygoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insects and arachnids are abundant and diverse, respond to key human impacts and support a diversity of key ecological functions. They are therefore widely recognised as effective surrogates for ecosystem condition. Their efficacy as indicators and surrogates in coastal dunes has, however, rarely been quantified, but might be instructive in guiding management in these often highly impacted coastal ecosystems. In this study, we (1) tested the effects of spatial and habitat drivers on the abundance of key insect and arachnid groups, and (2) used these patterns to identify viable management surrogates for impacts and management actions. We surveyed insect, arachnid and plant assemblages in coastal dunes at 20 sites on the Sunshine Coast in central eastern Australia. We have identified indicators for habitat condition and indicators for impact, and taxa that could be used to measure restoration outcomes. Crucially, five indicator groups also met criteria for being umbrella species, as management actions that increase their abundance would confer benefits to most other insect and arachnid taxonomic groups. We identified seven indicator groups (five insect and two arachnid), and each were affected by multiple spatial and habitat metrics, with metrics quantifying the composition and structure of vegetation communities being the most important predictors of most indicator's distributions. Implications for insect conservation: We highlight the importance of understanding subtleties in spatial patterns and the unique set of spatial and environmental conditions that each group requires when identifying suitable indicator taxa for use in the conservation and management of coastal dunes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropophony is a prominent component of soundscapes worldwide and is known to impact biota. While responses to anthropophony in terrestrial and marine animals have been relatively well-studied, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding freshwater animals. In fact, freshwater taxa are among the possibly most threatened groups, and unveiling the reasons for their threat is crucial. We investigated the effect of low-frequency sounds -usually associated with anthropophony- on the stridulation of Krizousacorixa femorata, a common water bug in Mexico City. Using aerial recordings, we estimated the Normalized Difference Soundscape Index (NDSI), which is the most commonly used index to measure anthropophony, to characterize soundscapes in six city sites throughout the year. Additionally, from underwater recordings in the same sites, we obtained the peak frequency (Pf) of the stridulations, as it is the frequency with the highest energy and, therefore, the one that can travel the farthest and can be identified even in the presence of overlapping sounds. Finally, we evaluated the relationships between soundscapes and Pf through a mixed linear model. There was a negative correlation between NDSI and Pf, indicating higher-pitched stridulations at sites with dominant anthropophony. While we cannot rule out other factors contributing to stridulation variation, we remain uncertain about how low-frequency sounds impact freshwater ecosystems and the intricate relationship between soundscapes and aquatic life in urban settings. Implications for insect conservation: There is a correlation between anthropophony and variations in the stridulation of aquatic bugs. This highlights the possibility of sound pollution on freshwater systems, emphasizing the need for assessment to better understand and prevent potential harm to aquatic insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In alpine environments, open habitats alternate with wood to create a habitat mosaic that shapes insect community composition and diversity. Dung beetles are an important group of insects specialized in feeding on vertebrate dung whose availability also depends on habitat type. Although the habitat preferences of dung beetles have been extensively studied, few studies have addressed the influence of habitat structure and temperature on dung beetle communities in alpine environments. We sampled dung beetles in pastures, at the edges between pasture and wood, in inner and outer woods of two alpine areas at different altitudes (two sites per area). We found that pastures had higher mean temperatures compared to other habitat types and hosted the highest number of species. However, the interaction between habitat and altitude significantly affected species richness and abundance, suggesting that habitat type and temperature modulate the response of dung beetles in the study area. Edges hosted intermediate communities between pastures and woodlands and were populated by both pasture and woodland specialists. Our results suggest that maintaining pastures is crucial to preserving dung beetle communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, ecological and conservation studies on pollinator insects have increased significantly. However, scientific evidence alone is not enough to translate knowledge into policy and into changes in behaviour. To reduce the gap between scientific knowledge on conservation actions and their actual uptake, one should understand the socio‐psychological drivers of people's willingness to undertake these actions.Here, we investigated the socio‐psychological factors influencing individual behaviour in favour of conservation interventions for pollinators in rural versus urban environments across three European countries: Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. We administered an online questionnaire to 4541 respondents stratified by nationality, environment, age and gender.Despite regional differences in socio‐cultural and economic conditions, individuals from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands living in both rural or urban environments shared similar socio‐psychological drivers to protect pollinators. People intended to take action to protect pollinators when they felt morally obliged to, when their social environment supported pollinator protection, when they believed their individual behaviour had an impact, and when they engaged frequently in outdoor activities.Interestingly, specific values held towards pollinators, such as their right to exist, seemed much more important predictors of activating norms that promote conservation actions compared to increasing general environmental concern. In all countries, among the conservation actions, the most likely to be implemented was planting flowers, while one of the most unlikely was participating in monitoring activities.Synthesis and applications. People from three contrasting European countries living in both rural and urban landscapes were mostly driven by the same socio‐psychological factors to help pollinator insects. Therefore, our results offer several practical recommendations to promote pollinator conservation across Europe. First, conservation practitioners interested in pollinator conservation should pay greater attention to values specific to pollinators, as they seemed more important behaviour predictors than general care for the environment. Second, engaging people in conservation efforts can be accomplished by increasing awareness about the vital roles that pollinators play within ecosystems. Lastly, promoting simple nature‐based activities such as wildlife observation, and gardening can help foster a sense of connection to and appreciation for pollinators and pollination. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neotropical forest ecosystems harbour significant biodiversity. To develop effective insect conservation practices, it is important to understand the factors that influence the diversity and population structure of the species. Dispersal, a key determinant of population structure, is well studied in termites nesting in wood, for which it can be influenced by wood transport, or in termites living in urban environments. However, understanding the dispersal of termites whose mobility remains unaffected by wood transport remains understudied. We investigated the dispersal of Embiratermes neotenicus, a soil‐feeding species with short dispersal distance, in the Neotropical region, where both intact and degraded forests exist. Using mitochondrial and nuclear data, we analysed genetic diversity, structure and factors contributing to population differentiation in Suriname and French Guiana at multiple scales for 70 colonies. The population in French Guiana is the ancestral population in the region that subsequently expanded. Significant genetic differentiation between populations was observed, with distinct patterns identified in Suriname and French Guiana. The Suriname population showed higher genetic diversity and no subpopulation differentiation, whereas the French Guiana population showed substructure into distinct genetic clusters. Analyses at the scale of all colonies suggest the influence of landscape features, such as the Maroni River, on genetic differentiation. At the local scale, genetic differentiation between colonies increases with forest alteration, even when this does not include major changes in forest cover. Our results highlight the sensitivity of soil‐feeding termite populations to habitat change. We argue that multi‐scale studies are needed for a comprehensive understanding of genetic patterns, especially for species with short dispersal distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is estimated that the tropical and south temperate regions harbour approximately 85% of the total entomofauna, and Brazil, which is the largest country in the Neotropical region, shows the greatest insect diversity in the world. However, to the best of our knowledge, the Brazilian population's interest in insects is yet to be investigated.We use Google Trends platform for prospecting temporal variation in the public engagement with nature. From searches in this database, from 2012 to 2020, using common names of 21 insect groups, we evaluated: (I) Brazilians' internet interest on insects over time, (II) the highest search themes for each insect group and (III) which pairs of insects are positively or negatively correlated regarding the public interest through years.Our findings demonstrate that Brazilians' internet interest regarding the studied insect groups is constant over time, which may be linked with the low attention these organisms generally receive, and that Brazilians are prone to perceive them as harmful, as we can observe in many of the top queries related to studied groups.We observed a considerable synchronous growth in interest regarding pairs of insects considered as domestic pests, medically important and charismatic, and the searches on these groups referred mainly to their biological, ecological and cultural aspects.Our results indicate that investment in environmental education in Brazil can motivate public engagement with insects. Also, our data can be crucial for directing conservation policies for insects in the tropical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat loss is an important driver in the rapid decline of many insects. The restoration of roadside habitat has been touted as an opportunity to support communities of bumble bees and butterflies, two insect groups of conservation concern. However, it is unclear how current roadside restoration methods translate to pollinator abundance and diversity.Here, we ask how the plant communities of roadsides seeded with native and non‐native seed mixes affect bumble bee and butterfly communities 2–20 years after planting.We found that bumble bee and butterfly abundance and diversity were positively correlated with floral abundance and diversity. However, the pollinator community in plots planted with diverse native seed mixes did not differ from that found in plots seeded with species‐poor non‐native mixes, likely because many forbs in the native seed mixes had poor establishment, and all plots were readily colonised by species that were never planted.While plots with more native flowers did not necessarily support higher pollinator diversity, we did find several native plants that established well in roadsides and supported pollinators, including goldenrods (Solidago spp.), milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) and wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).Our data suggest that managing a more diverse and abundant floral community will benefit bumble bees and butterflies. Refining the composition of native seed mixes, adding more floral abundance to non‐native mixes and investing in management for native plant communities may increase the habitat value of roadsides for pollinator communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Over the last two decades, ecological and conservation studies on pollinator insects have increased significantly. However, scientific evidence alone is not enough to translate knowledge into policy and into changes in behaviour. To reduce the gap between scientific knowledge on conservation actions and their actual uptake, one should understand the socio‐psychological drivers of people's willingness to undertake these actions. Here, we investigated the socio‐psychological factors influencing individual behaviour in favour of conservation interventions for pollinators in rural versus urban environments across three European countries: Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. We administered an online questionnaire to 4541 respondents stratified by nationality, environment, age and gender. Despite regional differences in socio‐cultural and economic conditions, individuals from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands living in both rural or urban environments shared similar socio‐psychological drivers to protect pollinators. People intended to take action to protect pollinators when they felt morally obliged to, when their social environment supported pollinator protection, when they believed their individual behaviour had an impact, and when they engaged frequently in outdoor activities. Interestingly, specific values held towards pollinators, such as their right to exist, seemed much more important predictors of activating norms that promote conservation actions compared to increasing general environmental concern. In all countries, among the conservation actions, the most likely to be implemented was planting flowers, while one of the most unlikely was participating in monitoring activities. Synthesis and applications. People from three contrasting European countries living in both rural and urban landscapes were mostly driven by the same socio‐psychological factors to help pollinator insects. Therefore, our results offer several practical recommendations to promote pollinator conservation across Europe. First, conservation practitioners interested in pollinator conservation should pay greater attention to values specific to pollinators, as they seemed more important behaviour predictors than general care for the environment. Second, engaging people in conservation efforts can be accomplished by increasing awareness about the vital roles that pollinators play within ecosystems. Lastly, promoting simple nature‐based activities such as wildlife observation, and gardening can help foster a sense of connection to and appreciation for pollinators and pollination. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Decisions about which processes to include in a population model can have substantial impact on estimates of population trends and extinction risk. This is particularly important for species of conservation concern, whose conservation status is decided in part on the basis of these models. In their recent paper, Meehan and Crossley (2023) Insect Conservation and Diversity, 16, 566–573 revisit a time series of overwintering monarch butterfly abundances, which previous assessments had characterised as rapidly declining and at risk of extinction. The authors, in contrast, reported no evidence for declines in the past 10 years and characterised extinction risk as low. A primary reason for the difference between these conclusions was that Meehan and Crossley used a more complex model that included a parameter for density dependence. While negative density dependence may play a role in monarch population regulation, there are a variety of unresolved issues with how and if density dependence should be included in models of monarch populations, including widely known issues with separating observation error from density dependence in noisy time series and taxon‐specific issues with fitting models to data surveyed every fourth generation and pooled at continental scales. These issues make the conclusions of Meehan and Crossley about monarch population viability much less robust than implied in their article. They do not provide convincing evidence that density dependence reduces extinction risk in monarch butterflies. Our commentary supports their general conclusion that population viability projections depend on model assumptions, but the ways in which monarch butterfly populations are regulated remains an open question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the sense of community and mutual respect among entomologists. It highlighting their contributions to habitat conservation, education and the recent Young Entomologists' Day. Topics include the significant impact of David Lonsdale and Steve Lings on entomology; conservation efforts; the diversity of insect species explored; and emphasizing the intellectual and aesthetic satisfaction entomology brings.

Due to particular vulnerabilities and environmental constraints, Alpine faunas are exposed to significant threats from climate change. However, baseline diversity and distribution data to monitor the trends of key arthropod groups are often scarce. Ants are highly diversified and key ecological actors across terrestrial ecosystems, including mountain ranges. We investigated ant diversity and distribution in the Southern European Alps to provide detailed data over wide elevational gradients and make a first assessment of potential vulnerabilities in the face of global warming. We detected 40 species from 700 to over 2600 m asl, with progressively less diversity corresponding to higher elevations and lower temperatures. Maximum temperature was weakly related to ant diversity as compared to mean and minimum temperature. In shaping ant diversity, the highest elevation species had wide elevation ranges, consistent with Rapoport's rule. We documented a fauna characterized by cold-adapted genera, species with wide geographic distributions and presumably high dispersal capabilities, no dietary specializations, and a high frequency of social parasitism. Concerning Bergmann's rule, average ant species size was not larger in the coldest environments. Red wood ants, characterized by much more populous colonies as compared to the other ant species, had the highest number of ant individuals to be found at intermediate elevations and in woodland habitats. On the other hand, grasslands and shrublands proved to be the most species-rich habitats. Our data lay the groundwork for further investigation on elevational shifts and provide context for the discussion of key aspects of the management and conservation of European alpine ants. Implications for insect conservation: The cold climate of the European Alps has so far protected its ant fauna from the incursion of alien competitors as compared to what is observed in the Mediterranean region. The scarcity of species with restricted distribution ranges or high-elevation specialists, as well as diet specialists, may grant ants of the European Alps more resilience to climate change as compared to other Alpine arthropod groups. On the other hand, many species are highly interconnected by social parasitism relationships that may be vulnerable to ecological cascade effects. While forest habitats host red wood ants, which are often protected for their important ecological role, the importance of grassland must not be overlooked as they support the highest ant species richness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pookila (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) is a threatened Australian mammal emblematic of the global decline of many vertebrate taxa. While conservationists are concerned with the survival of threatened vertebrates, few consider the rich diversity of symbiotic arthropods which often depend on these hosts for survival. Using P. novaehollandiae as a case study, we demonstrate that even opportunistic sampling can rapidly expand knowledge of the species richness of arthropod symbiont communities on poorly studied vertebrate hosts. We also demonstrate how DNA barcoding can be integrated to provide rapid and inexpensive identification capabilities for non-specialists. Finally, we show how various metrics and methods can be used to quantify and qualify extinction risk of poorly known arthropod symbionts to provide the foundations for conservation action. Implications for insect conservation: This study highlights how opportunistic sampling coupled with DNA barcoding and extinction risk metrics can be used to rapidly and inexpensively characterise the arthropod macrobiomes of rare vertebrates and evaluate the risk of decline of their component taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orchid bee species are important pollinators in the Neotropics. While male orchid bees are known to have a close interaction with odor-rewarding flowers, orchid bee females are often pollen generalists. In the current study, we investigated differences in the pollen diet diversity of orchid bees in various vegetation types and across sites with varying levels of forest cover by means of an analysis of the frass pellets of the orchid bee, Euglossa cordata (Linnaeus, 1758), and multiple species based on a literature review. The pollen grains found in the inner part of brood cells were used to assess the plant composition making up the diet of E. cordata in various areas of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. We found that this plant composition differed among vegetation types, and that diet specialization was lower in forested areas. Forest cover appeared to be the factor mostly associated with pollen richness in nests of E. cordata. Number of brood cells per nest were also associated with forest cover. The model used to assess the effect of forest cover on plant richness as part of brood diet of E. cordata was tested with the inclusion of published data and a newly generated data for E. annectans. This new data set allowed to understand the influence of forest in the pollen diet of multiple species in a more extensive geographic scale. Forest cover appeared to be important for a diversified pollen diet in several orchid bee species. Implications for insect conservation: Since a diversified pollen diet offered to larva bees is associated with bee survival and health, our results indicate that orchid bees relying on areas with higher forest cover have a more resilient population. Such findings emphasize the importance of conservation of forests, especially in the Neotropical region where many pollinator species are adapted to continuous forest environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen Science projects aim to make data entry as easy as possible and often provide online data recording or data recording with an App. However, many participants cannot or do not want to use these possibilities and record their data the "old-fashioned" way with pen on paper. We ask whether the quality of data recorded in the "old-fashioned" way (transect walkers record their data with pen on paper) is of the same, better or worse quality than data recorded "online" (transect walkers enter their data via an online tool). We use the project "Butterfly Monitoring Germany" as an example, where we identify three different types of volunteers: those who enter their data online, those who send their data to the project coordination via email in different formats and those who send their data to the project coordination via ordinary mail. We observed minor quantitative differences for transect walkers not entering their data online but significant qualitative differences. Transect walkers who send their data via email record significantly more data for some rare or difficult to determine species. This is essential to properly calculate these species' trends. In addition, the results of a questionnaire showed that "old fashioned" transect walkers did not use the online data entry because (i) data entry takes too long, (ii) is too cumbersome, (iii) they have bad or no internet connection or (iv) lack of technical capabilities. Accounting for different preferences of Citizen Scientists, different ways of data-submission should be made available (e.g. online, via app, or the old-fashioned way on paper). For the future, projects that collect large amounts of Citizen Science data should further develop low-threshold input data pipelines. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that data recorded in the old-fashioned way contributes significantly to increasing data quality. It is therefore very important to continue to enable different forms of data recording in the future. Furthermore, it is crucial to keep in mind that Citizen Science projects are only partly for the sake of science, but also volunteers should benefit by being part of a community and having access to information about (butterfly) biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are exclusively Neotropical insects that occur naturally from Mexico to Argentina. Eufriesea species are the least studied among the five genera because they are often univoltine and active for a few months. Eufriesea brasilianorum is seldom collected and is one of the least-known species. We analyzed the data for this rare and threatened species using Maxent and an ensemble of models to determine distribution hypotheses for E. brasilianorum in Brazil. A small area of high suitability was found in eastern Brazil, including Atlantic Forest remnants. More studies must be developed to validate our predictions for E. brasilianorum. Future validation of the predictions obtained for E. brasilianorum will allow further discussion to list E. brasilianorum as a threatened species in the most recent National Action Plan for Conservation of Pollinator Insects Threatened by Extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Schizomids are one of the less-known arachnid groups in terms of their natural history and ecology. However, due to their remarkable short-range endemic distribution, they may be vulnerable to climate change and habitat loss. In Colombia, although the national IUCN red list of threatened invertebrates has categorized species of schizomids as vulnerable (VU), this assessment was based on expert criteria. Therefore, information about the ecology of schizomids is critical for a more accurate reassessment of their conservation status. In this study, we describe the habitat of two species of Surazomus in endangered Andean tropical forests of Colombia after a sampling effort of 15.12 m2 (n = 168 soil samples) and the collection of 6999 soil fauna individuals from the samples. We analyzed soil fauna communities associated with schizomids as well as different forest and environmental variables from permanent plots installed a decade ago in the Sabana de Bogotá region. Detailed information on climate, plant communities, and forest structure was obtained from these plots. Thus, we provide the first comprehensive habitat description of schizomids including both above- and belowground compartments. We found that each species lives in specific habitats with different soil fauna communities, suggesting a potential association between geographical fidelity and habitat conditions. This result could indicate that schizomids are highly sensitive to dramatic environmental changes, such as those experienced in the Andean region of Colombia. Implications for insect conservation: Our study is valuable for the future reassessment of the conservation status of schizomids in the country, particularly considering that the previous categorization was based on expert criteria. Since habitat conditions and soil fauna communities are species-specific, schizomids could be disproportionately vulnerable to climate change and human disturbances in the Colombian Andes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthropod faunas have become impoverished in recent years in abundance as well as in diversity, but so far little evidence exists concerning spiders. In 2022, we repeated pitfall trap collections of spider assemblages completed 25 years previously in coastal dune habitats of the Hanstholm Reserve of National Park Thy, Denmark. Traps were placed approximately at the same spots, i.e. the habitats (white dune, grey dune, dry dune heathland, wet dune heathland, low pine plantation) were represented approximately as before. Contrary to most previous reports of insect decline, we found only weak evidence of reduction in abundance, but strong indications of reductions in faunistic value based on changes in ecological traits. Within the same period of spring and with the same number of traps, we collected 12% fewer spider individuals and 13% fewer species; rarefaction indicated that the lowered species richness was real. Species diversity had decreased and dominance increased. Changes in indices of ecological traits showed that the fauna had changed into decreased contribution of habitat specialists and species of restricted Danish distribution; the proportion of aeronauts had increased; the average body size had decreased. Indices of assemblage microclimatic niche positions and niche widths showed increased representation of shade and humidity loving species. Most of these changes were repeated in each of the habitats. Finally, we found evidence of a phenological shift towards activity earlier in spring in some species. Implications for insect conservation: We discuss possible management measures to counteract the observed trend towards reduced faunistic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Common species can predict overall species richness and composition, serving as a shortcut to biodiversity and supporting well-informed management of areas. However, the impacts of temporal variation in underlying species occurrence and imperfect detection on surrogacy effectiveness are unknown. We hypothesized that common species will represent total species composition both across sites and along environmental gradients and that this surrogacy effectiveness is maintained over time and robust to imperfect detection. Materials and methods: We sampled ground-dwelling ants using pitfall traps over 25 km2 on Amazon. We measured the congruence between a complete dataset and subsets containing a smaller number of species based on their commonness and compared the results among three sampling years. Further, we simulated virtual assemblages to determine the effect of species detection probability on surrogacy effectiveness and compared the costs associated with using all species vs. common species only. The common species composition responded to environmental gradients similarly to the overall species composition, regardless of year. The simulated data showed similar trends, although including imperfect detection increased the minimum number of common species required to recover overall patterns reasonably. Conclusion - Implications for insect conservation: This study represents the first report on the effectiveness of common species in predicting ant assemblage patterns over time. We propose that imperfect detection should be considered in biodiversity surrogacy studies, especially regarding its impact on surrogate effectiveness over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to exert a large impact on the spatial distribution of insects, yet limited analyses are available for assessing the influences of climate change on the distribution of Libellula angelina (Odonata: Libellulidae), which hindered the development of conservation strategies for this critically threatened dragonfly species. Here, a consensus model (BIOCLIM, GAM, MaxEnt and Random Forest) and niche analysis approach were applied to predict the dynamic change of potential distribution areas and ecological niche for L. angelina under future climate change. Meanwhile, the important environmental variables affecting the potential distribution of L. angelina were identified. The results demonstrated that the potential distribution pattern and ecological niche of L. angelina will not shift significantly in face of future climate change, but its highly suitable area in southern Beijing (China), the western and southern South Korea, and the southern Honshu Island (Japan) will decrease constantly. Further analyses indicated that the human influence index (23.8% of variation) is the highest factor in predicting the potential distribution of L. angelina, followed by the precipitation of warmest quarter (18.4% of variation). Based on the obtained results, we suggest that extensive cooperation among the countries (China, South Korea and Japan) be advocated to formulate the international conservation strategies, especially more attention and conservation efforts should be paid in those high-suitability areas of L. angelina to gain better protection efficiency, and proper artificial ecological restoration measures (e.g., creating suitable habitats, establishing additional natural wetlands, and raising citizens' awareness) should also be exerted. Implication for insect conservation: Our results indicate that there is no significant change in the location of the suitable habitat for L. angelina confronted with climate change, but the total area would constantly decrease due to human activities. Therefore, we should make more conservation efforts in those highly suitable areas, including Aosen and Hanshiqiao parks in China, Gangwon do and Doowoong parks in South Korea, and Chichibu Tama Kai and Ise-Shima parks in Japan, especially we should pay much attention to the anthropogenic impact such as human population and land use there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the effects of grazing disturbances in grasslands have shown mixed results for spider diversity, mainly regarding their guilds. While ungrazing, low, and moderate grazing potentially enhance the diversity of orb-weavers in spider communities, heavy grazing seems to reduce species' richness. On the population level though, studies of orb-weavers are scarce, and the effects of grazing in natural grasslands are unknown. In this way, we investigated the effects of different grazing levels on population persistence of orb-weaver spiders, hypothesizing that low to intermediate disturbances benefit populations. We predict that high grazing, due to the removal of vegetation structure, will negatively affect the occupancy and abundance of orb-weavers. For that, we experimentally controlled grazing pressure and obtained population occurrence and counts of two orb-weaver spider species, Argiope argentata and Alpaida quadrilorata. We found that A. argentata was negatively affected by grazing, as it relies on higher vegetation for web-building. In contrast, A. quadrilorata, which occurs in cattle-resistant rosette plants, showed no effects of grazing. Implications for insect conservation: Our study emphasizes the need for balanced grazing practices and habitat conservation to protect orb-weaver spiders and other arthropods, as well as species-specific effects for species from the same guild, underscoring their ecological significance in maintaining ecosystem stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold‐adapted species at high elevations may be especially impacted by global warming since they may be limited in their capacity to adapt to changing conditions or may be prevented from shifting their distributions upwards if no suitable habitats are available.The latter may be true for Erebia nivalis, a high‐elevation specialist that mainly occurs in the Austrian Alps and on few mountaintops in Switzerland, where its taxonomic and conservation status remains unclear.We aimed to clarify the relationships among geographically isolated populations of E. nivalis using whole‐genome resequencing data to reconstruct population connectivity and phylogenetic relationships. We inferred current and historical effective population sizes and combined these with tests for ecological differentiation based on available occurrence data to re‐evaluate the conservation status of E. nivalis.Our results confirm that Swiss and Austrian E. nivalis should be considered different evolutionarily significant units for conservation purposes, as they are marked by moderate genomic differentiation, distinct demographic histories and a difference in the abiotic conditions of their habitats.In both Austria and Switzerland, we found rapid uphill range shifts over the last decades, little population connectivity, low current effective population sizes and low genetic diversity. The above, combined with the low dispersal capacity of this 2‐year lifecycle species and its need to overwinter under snow, which is rapidly retreating from several regions of the Alps, leads us to suggest that the status of E. nivalis should be updated to 'Vulnerable' or 'Endangered' in the European, Swiss and Austrian Red Lists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global change is affecting insect populations worldwide as species declines have been reported from different areas of the planet.Novel approaches such as the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) could detect areas of high biodiversity value for insect populations. The KBA approach relies on standardised criteria to identify important sites for biodiversity persistence. The application of such criteria to large numbers of species would significantly accelerate the KBA mapping process.A systematic application of KBA criteria has not been tested on insects, and very little is known about the efficiency and limits of such methodology.We applied four KBA criteria in Italy to 28 species/subspecies of bumblebees and identified potential KBAs for one species and three subspecies. Potential KBAs are only partially nested within current Italian KBAs and the protected areas network. When compared with potential KBAs of vertebrate species identified with the same methodology, the degree of nesting is only 12%.Our results provide evidence of a tendency of the KBA network to expand as more species are assessed, raising questions about the ability of the criteria to detect areas that truly are key for biodiversity and not just for specific taxa. We also highlight issues regarding the use of KBA criteria on insects, such as data availability and the use of subspecies. Further large‐scale assessments of KBAs will reveal the true potential of application of the KBA approach for insect conservation, and whether it actually may slow down the loss of important units of their extraordinary diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: There is increasing interest in the study of how the ongoing climate change is affecting insect populations. However, most research has been focused on a limited number of groups that are particularly charismatic or expected to respond more clearly to climate change. Moreover, most research has been developed in a few areas (especially northern and central European countries), while others (such as the Mediterranean basin) have been largely overlooked. Therefore, more empirical research is needed, particularly on less charismatic species, groups that are expected to react less dramatically to climatic change, and key areas that are still poorly investigated. This study investigates changes in distributional and activity patterns in a common, ecologically tolerant, forest tenebrionid beetle in a region (central Italy) within the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, an area strongly subjected to the ongoing climate change, but for which research is still limited. By analyzing changes in elevation, latitude, longitude, and seasonal activity between 1900–1980 and 1981–2022, the results provided insights into the potential effects of climate change on this species. The beetle's average values of elevation and latitude were found to have been increased in the second period. In response to rising temperatures, the species became more frequent at higher elevation and in northern places. No strong evidence was found for an earlier species seasonal activity, but this could be due to the inclusion in the analysis of likely overwintering individuals. The findings suggest that even thermally tolerant species can undergo distributional shifts in elevation and latitude, even at a relatively small scale. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies using terrestrial fauna surveys and monitoring strategies have been increasingly used in conservation programs. The order Lepidoptera stands out in biomonitoring, especially focused on frugivorous butterflies. When traps for frugivorous butterflies are set, they also collect a great diversity of moths, which end up being discarded from sampling due to identification difficulties and lack of specialists in the Neotropical region. Frugivorous moths belong mainly to the Noctuoidea superfamily, but to date, no study has collected records on species that occur in Brazil, their distribution, and possible benefits of including them in monitoring plans involving frugivorous butterflies. Thus, this study highlights the importance of the inclusion of frugivorous moths in conservation studies and action plans, based on a comprehensive checklist of valid species that occur in Brazil as a basic tool for conservation. From a literature review, we addressing species of frugivorous moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea) to create the list of valid species that share this feeding habit. Additionally, we reviewed the different behaviors associated with frugivory and discussed how the inclusion of moths could enrich the fauna conservation and monitoring programs. In total, 136 species and four subspecies, distributed in 30 genera and belonging to the families Erebidae and Noctuidae were related from the literature. Although these data are based on previously conducted studies, they suggest that there are many gaps in our knowledge of the moths' diversity and potential threats to this group of Lepidoptera. Implications for insect conservation : Our study demonstrates that the inclusion of frugivorous moths in monitoring and conservations programs could also improve biological and ecological information on the studies that actually are using frugivorous butterflies only, especially in critical regions for conservation areas such as the Amazon Rainforest and Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Applied studies are still needed to investigate frugivorous moths and how their community assemblages are structured, particularly in the Neotropical region. The inclusion of frugivorous moths in monitoring can improve knowledge of moth diversity, potential endemic and indicator species and the detection of environmental changes caused by human activities and climate change. In this way, conservation actions can be proposed, with the participation of scientists, local communities, citizen scientists and authorities, for different priority areas, based on the identification of threats to the diversity not only for frugivorous moth species but for other different biotic components of the ecosystems in which these species occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]