Dramatic disappearance of insects in the forest – without any agriculture

2023-04-16 10:04:22

Dramatic disappearance of insects in the forest – without any agriculture

Julia Eder, AGRARHEUTE*

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Hainich National Park in Thuringia was one of three regions in which researchers studied the decline of insect species.

The most comprehensive study to date of insect extinction in German forests shows that species are also disappearing in ecosystems without agriculture.

Researchers from the Technical Universities of Darmstadt and Munich have studied the evolution of 1,805 insect species in German forests between 2008 and 2017. This is the most comprehensive study ever carried out on the disappearance of insects in German forests. Central European forests. And the result surprised the researchers.

THE ” perturbations » agricultural play no role in the forest

« More than 60 percent of insect species studied were in decline says Dr. Michael Staab from the Ecological Networks Working Group of the Department of Biology at the Technical University of Darmstadt and lead author of the study. This result surprised the researchers – they write: “ This is particularly surprising in comparison with agricultural areas, where the type of land use has changed over time and intensified due to factors such as more effective pesticides, the removal of peripheral structures or the increased cultivation of maize for energy. Disturbances of this type play no role in the forest. Nevertheless, a clear decline in species can be demonstrated. »

These insect species suffer particularly in the forest

The new study was conducted in three regions: in Hainich National Park, in the Biosphere Reserve UNESCO of Schorfheide-Chorin and in the biosphere reserve UNESCO of the Swabian Jura. Here’s what the researchers discovered in detail:

• Larger and more frequent species are in particular decline.

• Predators and dead wood decomposers have experienced a sharp decline, while among herbivorous insects, we have seen slightly more species increase than decrease.

• The decline was greater in forests with a high proportion of conifers and less in native beech forests.

• In protected forests without logging, the decline was less than in intensively managed forests.

Causes of insect death in the forest and consequences

In view of climate change, the researchers believe that it will be necessary in the future to study the impact of increasing drought and the resulting modification of local forests on the evolution of insect populations. The forest has come to public attention due to its importance to the climate and the pervasive damage to forests caused by hot, dry summers.

The study also suggests that targeted management, including promoting a more natural species composition and reduced logging, can help mitigate the loss of insects in our forests.

Staab believes that the decline of insect species in forests will most likely affect all organisms found there, as food webs are likely to change. Besides humans, many animal species depend on the forest ecosystem, most of them being insects. While temporal changes in the populations of potentially harmful insects have been well studied, until now little was known about the status and evolution of many other insect species in forests.

The results of the study have been published in the specialist journal Communications Biology.

With material from the Technical University of Darmstadt

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* ulia Eder is department head at AGRICULTURAL TODAY and takes care of the cross-media planning of the themes, organizes the processes within the editorial staff and takes care of the digital edition ofAGRICULTURAL TODAY.

Source : Dramatic death of insects in the forest – without any agriculture | agrarheute.com

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