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Amid recent reports of declining insect populations that have raised alarm, a meta-analysis published today (April 24) in Science finds that the number of individual freshwater insects has increased, even as their terrestrial counterparts have declined. The authors point to “local-scale drivers,” such as changes in land use and water quality, that may be responsible for these trends, and state that more data from diverse geographical locations are needed to better understand insect population dynamics.
Previous studies have depicted insects in a dramatic downswing, including a 2017 study that found a 75 percent decrease in flying insect populations in western Germany over a period of 27 years, and a 2019 review that suggested insect biomass may drop by 2.5 percent per year, CNN reports.
“Our work included vastly more studies than others had,” says coauthor of the new study Roel van Klink of Leipzig University ...
