Long-term changes in the abundance of flying insects

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Shortall, C. R., Moore, A., Smith, E., Hall, M. J., Woiwod, I. P. and Harrington, R. 2009. Long-term changes in the abundance of flying insects. Insect Conservation and Diversity. 2 (4), pp. 251-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2009.00062.x

AuthorsShortall, C. R., Moore, A., Smith, E., Hall, M. J., Woiwod, I. P. and Harrington, R.
Abstract

For the first time, long-term changes in total aerial insect biomass have been estimated for a wide area of Southern Britain. Various indices of biomass were created for standardised samples from four of the Rothamsted Insect Survey 12.2 m tall suction traps for the 30 years from 1973 to 2002. There was a significant decline in total biomass at Hereford but not at three other sites: Rothamsted, Starcross and Wye. For the Hereford samples, many insects were identified at least to order level, some to family or species level. These samples were then used to investigate the taxa involved in the decline in biomass at Hereford. The Hereford samples were dominated by large Diptera, particularly Dilophus febrilis, which showed a significant decline in abundance. Changes in agricultural practice that could have contributed to the observed declines are discussed, as are potential implications for farmland birds, with suggestions for further work to investigate both cause and effect.

Keywordsbiodiversity conservation; Entomology
Year of Publication2009
JournalInsect Conservation and Diversity
Journal citation2 (4), pp. 251-260
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2009.00062.x
Open accessPublished as bronze (free) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeCentre for Biofuels and Climate Change (BCC)
SEF
Aphid ecology and population dynamics
Publisher's version
Copyright license
Publisher copyright
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online22 Oct 2009
Publication process dates
Accepted10 Jun 2009
PublisherWiley
ISSN1752-458X

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8q400/long-term-changes-in-the-abundance-of-flying-insects

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