Insect Conservation— A Time of Crisis and Opportunity

Abstract

American Entomologist • Summer 2008 “The biodiversity crisis is undeniably an insect biodiversity crisis. Yet insect conservation remains the awkward “kid sister” to vertebrate conservation.” (Dunn 2005) It is difficult to refute the assertion that insect conservation has yet to fully join the mainstream of global conservation efforts. A cursory glance at the premier conservation journals often fails to turn up even a single insect-related article. Browse any of the personnel lists of the so-called “BINGOs” (big international non-governmental organizations) focused on nature conservation, and you’ll be lucky to find more than one staffer with any entomological background. The major conservation meetings rarely have more than one session on insectan issues, which is generally the case for most entomological conferences as well. Not withstanding our most high-profile champions like E. O. Wilson, Tom Eisner, May Berenbaum, and Michael Samways, the entomological community at large seems to be mostly sitting on the sidelines in the struggle to save insect biodiversity. Moreover, all indications are that we are running out of time to join the fight. Seemingly from all quarters, from the field and in the literature, we are picking up signals that large numbers of insect species are on a downward trajectory toward extinction. A series of studies from Europe have alerted us to widespread declines of moths, butterflies, and other well-studied taxa–this in the part of the world that has demonstrated the greatest historical commitment to conserving its insect fauna. It is troubling that insects seem to be in a steeper decline than the plants on which many of them depend (e.g., Biesmeijer et al. 2006). Across the tropics, the conversion of forests to plantations and agricultural use is driving severe, predictable patterns of insect species loss and community simplification (Nichols et al. 2007). In endemism hotspots such as Madagascar, those landscape modifications appear to have driven as much as 40% of the endemic dung beetle species to extinction (Hanski et al. 2007). Global climate change is scrawling its signature in the form of insect species’ poleward shifts, which are being documented daily. Viewed as a whole, this steady drumbeat of bad news raises the grim possibility that at last we are beginning to see our insect extinction debt coming due. Insect Conservation— A Time of Crisis and Opportunity