The Executive Summary of the proposal and Public Abstract are below. To request a copy of the full text (e.g. to see the structure of a successful RCN proposal, to support related grant proposals, etc.) please contact the Principal Investigator, David Wagner at david.wagner@uconn.edu.
Overview: Insects constitute more than half of Earth’s described species and play integral roles in the functioning of freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Worldwide decline of insects will have adverse impacts on ecosystem services and lead to the unraveling of millions of trophic interactions across the tree of life. Despite urgent calls for more research on the status of insect populations, there is no comprehensive analysis of the global data needed to identify where declines are most severe, what taxa are declining fastest, and rank principal stressors. The proposed RCN will build an international network that unites entomologists, conservation biologists, community scientists, agriculture and forestry professionals, policy-makers, data scientists, and other stakeholders to (a) develop a community-driven approach to systematic data synthesis, (b) map and meta-analyze current knowledge of insect population and diversity trends globally, and (c) propose pathways to protect insect biodiversity. The RCN will compile global evidence, identify data gaps, adopt community-endorsed data standards for insect monitoring, identify geographic and taxonomic patterns of population change, synthesize information on principal threats, advance statistical methods to meta-analyze quantitative data relevant to insect population trends, identify immediate and long-term strategies to protect insect biodiversity, and promote policy development to support these strategies. The RCN will be led by PIs Christie Bahlai (Kent State U), Chris Elphick (U Connecticut), Eliza Grames (U of Nevada Reno), David Wagner (U Connecticut), and Jessica Ware (American Museum), and other Steering Committee members: May Berenbaum (U Illinois), Scott Black (Xerces Society), Lynn Dicks (U Cambridge), Matt Forister (U of Nevada Reno), Shinichi Nakagawa (U New South Wales), and Morgan Tingley (U California-Los Angeles).
Intellectual merit: Long-term data for insects are scarce, geographically biased, and systematic syntheses have been limited. The RCN will create a framework to identify and address crucial data gaps by building the connections to assimilate and map the global evidence base, evaluate and rank processes behind insect declines, coordinate and accelerate research on global population trends. Goals will be to build a collection of publicly accessible, insect demographic data sets; develop community-endorsed data standards for insect monitoring efforts; explore new molecular and AI methodologies for insect monitoring (especially for tropical biotas where species-level taxonomy is nascent); extend evidence-synthesis software and advance methods to meta-analyze time series data; and coordinate research that can be used to better equip stakeholders to guide and implement future research and policy applications. The RCN will develop the first-ever community-driven approach to evidence synthesis that draws on an international community of biologists to synthesize and advance available time series data. This community-driven approach will be transferable across disciplines, e.g., to questions in conservation, public health, and other arenas. Our use of network analytics to monitor membership diversity and activity will provide a novel system for tracking and enhancing network diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across our RCN.
Broader impacts: Insects are central to human endeavors ranging from food production to recreation, and are critical to processes upon which society depends, from nutrient cycling and pollination services to pest control and disease dynamics. The network will build a multinational infrastructure to synthesize knowledge and prioritize new research, providing far-reaching consequences for insect biodiversity and, by extension, human society. Our RCN will emphasize inclusive participation in science by incorporating strategies to ensure the capture of current knowledge (including non-English language literature and as-yet-unpublished data sources), by engaging a broad community of participants, and active recruiting and monitoring of network participant diversity (as foreshadowed by our initial Working Groups in Figures 1 and 2). To extend societal impacts, we will partner with the Xerces Society, the world’s largest invertebrate conservation organization, to develop in-person and on-line educational resources, conservation programs, and policy initiatives that will be shared with its 100,000 followers; partner with GBIF, NEON, and community science efforts; and develop multinational Working Groups focused on education, outreach, and policy about invertebrates—the little things that run the world.
There is substantial evidence that insects are declining in both abundance and diversity across many regions of the planet, at rates as high as 1-2.5% per year. These unsustainable rates will have manifold consequences for the functioning of the planet’s ecosystems. Quintessential ecosystem services provided by insects—pollination, litter decomposition and soil formation, pest control, and nutrient cycling—are essential for the functioning of the biosphere, food production, and human health. Estimates of global ecosystem services provided by insects and other invertebrates exceed $1 trillion annually. The five-year Research Coordination Network (RCN) will bring together scientists from around the world to study the status and trajectories of insect populations and communities globally. The network of international scientists will be tasked with determining the magnitude and patterns of decline, identifying the primary causes and consequences for ecosystem function and human welfare, and developing policy recommendations to mitigate and reverse the losses. The proposal includes support to develop educational and outreach materials that will raise awareness for and appreciation of insects—the little things that run the world.
The RCN will unite entomologists, conservation biologists, community scientists, agriculture and forestry professionals, policy-makers, data scientists, and other stakeholders to (a) develop a community-driven approach to systematic data synthesis, (b) map and meta-analyze current knowledge of insect population and diversity trends globally, and (c) propose pathways to protect insect biodiversity. The multinational network will compile global evidence, identify data gaps, develop community-endorsed data standards for insect monitoring, assess geographic and taxonomic patterns of population change, synthesize information on principal threats, advance statistical methods to meta-analyze quantitative data relevant to insect population trends, recommend immediate and long-term strategies to protect insect biodiversity, and promote policy development to support these strategies.