Bias and perspectives in insect conservation: A European scale analysis

Leandro, Camila; Jay‐Robert, Pierre; Vergnes, Alan

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.07.033

Cited by 45 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…However, taxonomic bias towards certain groups exists also among articles dedicated to arthropods (e.g. Cardoso, 2012;Leandro et al, 2017). For example, butterflies are among the most studied in SDM studies, which once again may be due to a greater availability of information (Thomas 2005, van Swaay et al 2008, Brereton et al 2011, and which in turn might be driven by aesthetic characteristics.…”

Section: Taxonomic and Geographical Biasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators

Mammola¹,

Pétillon²,

Hacala³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Species distribution models (SDMs) are emerging as essential tools in the equipment of many ecologists; they are useful in exploring species distributions in space and time and in answering an assortment of questions related to historical biogeography, climate change biology and conservation biology. Given that arthropod distributions are strongly influenced by microclimatic conditions and microhabitat structure, they should be an ideal candidate group for SDM research, especially generalist predators because they are not directly dependent on vegetation or prey types. However, most SDM studies of animals to date have focused either on broad samples of vertebrates or on arthropod species that are charismatic (e.g. butterflies) or economically important (e.g. vectors of disease, crop pests and pollinators). By means of a systematic bibliometric approach, we targeted the literature published on key terrestrial arthropod predators (ants, ground beetles and spiders), chosen as a model to explore challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling in mega-diverse arthropod groups. We show that the use of SDMs to map the geography of terrestrial arthropod predators has been a recent phenomenon, with a near-exponential growth in the number of studies over the past 10 years and still limited collaborative networks among researchers. There is a bias in studies towards charismatic species and geographical areas that hold lower levels of diversity but greater availability of data, such as Europe and North America. To overcome some of these data limitations, we illustrate the potential of modern data sources (citizen science programmes, online databases) and new modelling approaches (ensemble of small models, modelling above the species level). Finally, we discuss areas of research where SDMs may be combined with dispersal models and increasingly available phylogenetic and functional data to obtain mechanistic descriptions of species distributions and their spatio-temporal shifts within a global change perspective.

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Section: Taxonomic and Geographical Biasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators

Mammola¹,

Pétillon²,

Hacala³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Similarly, Leandro et al . (2017) demonstrated through analysis of 15 traits that protected species in Europe are ‘significantly larger, better known, more widespread and more multi‐coloured’ than unprotected insects. Since human perception of insects influences their pattern of interaction in natural settings (Shipley & Bixler, 2016), it is valuable to investigate which insect taxa garner the most attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of sight, out of mind: public and research interest in insects is negatively correlated with their conservation status

Wang

Zeng

Meng

et al. 2021

Insect Conserv Diversity

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Conservation ‘culturomics’ analyses changes in word frequencies within large digital sources to gain conservation insights. Studies of mammals and birds have found little correlation between conservation need and research effort or popular interest. In this study, we examine research and public interest in 9355 potentially endangered insect species from the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Using search counts from Google search, Google Scholar and Ngram as indicators of public and research interest (Internet salience), we found that Internet attention is negatively correlated with the level of threat faced by an insect species. All measures of Internet salience and research effort were highly correlated, and searches for an insect's scientific name were more likely if it had a common name. Since few past studies have incorporated phylogenetic information into their analyses, we used search counts and Twitter text content to study the phylogenetic signal of research interest across 870 insect families. Phylogenetic regressions demonstrate that species‐rich families receive more searches, but research interest is not proportional to the size of a family. Phylogenetically distinct insect families receive fewer searches per family and per species. Our results suggest that many endangered insects, unlike vertebrates, have been largely ignored on the World Wide Web.

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“…Cultural services influence how people interact with nature and with each other. Thus, better understanding the significance of insect cultural services can help change how people perceive insects, and how future biodiversity conservation efforts can be more integrative and accommodating of insects and other invertebrates [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notwithstanding the gaps between invertebrates and vertebrates, there exist further biases within insects in terms of conservation attention. Conservation of insects tends to largely focus on large and colourful species while overlooking smaller and less well-known ones [ 3 , 4 ]. These within-insect biases are known to be damaging to native entomofauna, such as wild pollinators whose abundance can be suppressed by the high densities of honeybees [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect Cultural Services: How Insects Have Changed Our Lives and How Can We Do Better for Them

Duffus

Christie

Morimoto

2021

Insects

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Societies have benefited directly and indirectly from ecosystem services provided by insects for centuries (e.g., pollination by bees and waste recycling by beetles). The relationship between people and insect ecosystem services has evolved and influenced how societies perceive and relate to nature and with each other, for example, by shaping cultural values (‘cultural ecosystem services’). Thus, better understanding the significance of insect cultural services can change societies’ motivations underpinning conservation efforts. To date, however, we still overlook the significance of many insect cultural services in shaping our societies, which in turn likely contributes to the generalised misconceptions and misrepresentations of insects in the media such as television and the internet. To address this gap, we have reviewed an identified list of insect cultural services that influence our societies on a daily basis, including cultural services related to art, recreation, and the development of traditional belief systems. This list allowed us to formulate a multi-level framework which aims to serve as a compass to guide societies to better appreciate and potentially change the perception of insect cultural services from individual to global levels. This framework can become an important tool for gaining public support for conservation interventions targeting insects and the services that they provide. More broadly, this framework highlights the importance of considering cultural ecosystems services—for which values can be difficult to quantify in traditional terms—in shaping the relationship between people and nature.

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Bias and perspectives in insect conservation: A European scale analysis

Cited by 45 publications

References 63 publications

Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators

Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators

Out of sight, out of mind: public and research interest in insects is negatively correlated with their conservation status

Insect Cultural Services: How Insects Have Changed Our Lives and How Can We Do Better for Them

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