Quantifying rapidly declining abundance of insects in Europe using a paired experimental design

Møller, Anders Pape

doi:10.1002/ece3.6070

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“…The drastic decline in the abundance of the orb-weaving spider Araneus diadematus over the past half-century documented in this study (Table 1) apparently reveals a bottom-up trophic cascade in response to the widespread insect losses that have occurred across large parts of Europe in recent decades [1,2,4,6,9,39,67,68]. There is evidence that other groups of aerial web-spinning spiders, which likewise depend on flying insects as food [17][18][19]21,[69][70][71], have also become much rarer over the recent past (Nyffeler, pers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Where Have All the Spiders Gone? Observations of a Dramatic Population Density Decline in the Once Very Abundant Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus (Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss Midland

Nyffeler

Bonte

2020

Insects

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Aerial web-spinning spiders (including large orb-weavers), as a group, depend almost entirely on flying insects as a food source. The recent widespread loss of flying insects across large parts of western Europe, in terms of both diversity and biomass, can therefore be anticipated to have a drastic negative impact on the survival and abundance of this type of spider. To test the putative importance of such a hitherto neglected trophic cascade, a survey of population densities of the European garden spider Araneus diadematus-a large orb-weaving species-was conducted in the late summer of 2019 at twenty sites in the Swiss midland. The data from this survey were compared with published population densities for this species from the previous century. The study verified the above-mentioned hypothesis that this spider's present-day overall mean population density has declined alarmingly to densities much lower than can be expected from normal population fluctuations (0.7% of the historical values). Review of other available records suggested that this pattern is widespread and not restricted to this region. In conclusion, the decline of this once so abundant spider in the Swiss midland is evidently revealing a bottom-up trophic cascade in response to the widespread loss of flying insect prey in recent decades.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Where Have All the Spiders Gone? Observations of a Dramatic Population Density Decline in the Once Very Abundant Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus (Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss Midland

Nyffeler

Bonte

2020

Insects

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The drastic decline in the abundance of the orb-weaving spider Araneus diadematus over the past half-century documented in this study (Table 1) is apparently revealing a bottom-up trophic cascade in response to widespread insect losses that had occurred across large parts of Europe in recent decades [1,2,4,6,9,25,61,62]. There is evidence that other groups of aerial web-spinning spiders, which likewise depend on flying insects as food [17][18][19]21,[63][64][65], have also become much rarer over the past decades (Nyffeler, pers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Where have all the spiders gone? Observations of a dramatic population density decline in the once very abundant garden spider,Araneus diadematus(Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss midland

Nyffeler

Bonte

2020

Preprint

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AbstractAerial web-spinning spiders (including large orb-weavers) depend, as a group of insectivores, completely on flying insects as a food source. The recent widespread loss of flying insects across large parts of western Europe, both in terms of diversity and biomass, can therefore be anticipated to have a drastic negative impact on survival and abundance of this type of spiders. To test the putative importance of such a to date neglected trophic cascade, a survey of population densities of the European garden spider Araneus diadematus – a large orb-weaving spider – was conducted in late summer 2019 on twenty sites of the Swiss midland. The data from this survey were compared with published population densities for this species from the previous century. The study verifies above-mentioned hypothesis that this spider’s present-day overall mean population density has declined alarmly to densities much lower than can be expected from normal population fluctuations (0.7% of the historical densities). Review of other available records suggests this pattern is widespread and not restricted to this region. In conclusion, the here documented abundance decline of this once so abundant spider in the Swiss midland is evidently revealing a bottom-up trophic cascade in response to the widespread loss of flying insect prey in recent decades.

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“…In temperate ecosystems, about 78% of angiosperm species depend on pollinators to ensure their sexual reproduction [4]. Global pollinator decline has been observed for the last decades [5][6][7] even though not all species are facing a decline [8], and further robust data are still needed [9]. On grasslands, pollinators play a major role in plant community assembly and in return receive suitable habitats that provide nesting sites and food [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Matching Traits to Study the Impacts of Land-Use Intensification on Plant–Pollinator Interactions in European Grasslands: A Review

Goulnik

Plantureux

Dajoz

et al. 2021

Insects

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Permanent grasslands are suitable habitats for many plant and animal species, among which are pollinating insects that provide a wide range of ecosystem services. A global crisis in pollination ecosystem service has been highlighted in recent decades, partly the result of land-use intensification. At the grassland scale, however, the underlying mechanisms of land-use intensification that affect plant–pollinator interactions and pollination remain understudied. In this review, we first synthesise the literature to provide new insights into the relationships between land-use intensification and pollination by using matching community and interaction traits. We then identify knowledge gaps and summarise how land-use intensification of grassland influences floral traits that may in turn be associated with modifications to pollinator matching traits. Last, we summarise how these modifications may affect pollination function on permanent grasslands. Overall, land-use intensification may lead to a shift in flower colour, a decrease in mean nectar tube depth and a decrease in reward production and pollen quality at the community level. This, in turn, may generate a decrease in pollinator mouthparts length and body size, that may favour pollinators that require a low amount of floral reward. We found no study citing the effect of land-use intensification on volatile organic compounds emitted by flowers despite the importance of these molecules in pollinator community composition. Overall, our review highlighted major knowledge gaps about the effects of land-use intensification on plant–pollinator interactions, and suggests that land-use intensification could favour plants with generalised floral traits that adversely affect pollination.

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Quantifying rapidly declining abundance of insects in Europe using a paired experimental design

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Where Have All the Spiders Gone? Observations of a Dramatic Population Density Decline in the Once Very Abundant Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus (Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss Midland

Where Have All the Spiders Gone? Observations of a Dramatic Population Density Decline in the Once Very Abundant Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus (Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss Midland

Where have all the spiders gone? Observations of a dramatic population density decline in the once very abundant garden spider,Araneus diadematus(Araneae: Araneidae), in the Swiss midland

Using Matching Traits to Study the Impacts of Land-Use Intensification on Plant–Pollinator Interactions in European Grasslands: A Review

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