Unintended Consequences? Lethal Specimen Collection Accelerates with Conservation Concern

Abstract

Global declines of arthropods have garnered widespread attention because the loss of insect species threatens critical ecosystem services such as decomposition, pest control, and pollination (Sánchez-Bayo et al. 2019 and citations therein). Although the extent of the “insect apocalypse” is currently under debate (Didham et al. 2020), insect declines are well documented worldwide, with habitat loss, agricultural intensification, and climate change cited as primary drivers of losses in biomass and diversity (Raven and Wagner 2021). These losses have stimulated conservation action and research effort. However, lethal sampling continues as a common entomological practice, despite conservation concern and increasing research. Facing myriad extant pressures, vulnerable insect populations may be less resilient to traditional sampling norms than broadly assumed. We raise as an emerging concern the potentially damaging yet unknown impacts of contemporary specimen collection on wild insect populations. Reviewing the literature on temporal sampling trends in bumble bees as a case study, we highlight the value of non-lethal sampling alternatives and underscore the need for proactive, empirically informed sampling guidelines that reflect taxon-specific conservation needs.