SS 27 - Trends in North American Insect Populations and Diversity: Recent Findings and the Importance of Public Engagement

Session Description: A debate has emerged in the biodiversity literature, particularly in insects. While some studies warn of dramatic declines and looming extinctions (“Insectageddon”; Sánchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys, 2019), others have found no net change in abundance or diversity (Crossley et al. 2020). How can we reconcile these separate and seemingly disparate sets of findings?

While trends in European insects have been well-investigated, broad-scale studies of North American insects are only recently emerging. This session will aim to unravel the complex picture of insect trends in North America, and discuss how to explain these complicated findings and their implications to the public.

There are several axes to consider when assessing insect trends. First is the massive complexity and heterogeneity of responses that will inherently emerge with such a diverse taxonomic group, and how we can synthesize some general trends from the noise. The second consideration is methodological: the variety of metrics and tools available to quantify those trends, and how they can lead to differing results. Finally, we must consider ways of communicating these various and complex findings to the public, in a way that is accurate but not overwhelming.

The session will begin with short 7-minute lightning talks by the 4 speakers, in order to introduce them to the audience, address each of the considerations listed above, and set the stage for the discussion panel. The first talk will detail ongoing trends in insect populations in North America using long-term data, and their regional drivers. The next two talks will focus on methodological advances and best practices for monitoring insects in order to generate robust estimates. The final lightning talk will detail the role of outreach, public education and citizen science in insect conservation, and how to optimize science communication in these endeavours.

The session will then progress to a discussion panel of all 4 speakers, on the topic of “Communicating uncertainty and complexity to the public and its conservation implications”. Each speaker will bring their own background and expertise (in synthesis, methods, and communication) to address this topic.The first 30 minutes will be a rotating, prompted discussion section with questions prepared by the organizers. We will then open up the floor to all attendees to ask their own questions and engage with the panelists, to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Sánchez-Bayo, F., & Wyckhuys, K.A. (2019). Biol Cons, 232: 8-27.

Crossley, M.S. et al. (2020). Nature Ecol Evol, 4: 1368-1376.