The RCN is just getting started; products and results will be added to this page as the network grows and working groups complete projects.

Trainings & Tutorials

We anticipate an initial set of trainings and tutorials will be available for the following topics soon, however, no training videos are available yet.

Time Series Analysis

Videos and tutorials on doing time series analysis for insect populations and communities

Evidence Synthesis

Videos and tutorials on systematic reviews, systematic maps, and meta-analyses

Monitoring

Best practices for monitoring programs and collecting insect data for non-entomologists

Publications

Bahlai, C.A. (2023). Forecasting insect dynamics in a changing world. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 60, 101133. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2023.101133

Forister, M.L., S.H. Black, C.S. Elphick, E.M. Grames, C.A. Halsch, C.B. Schultz and D.L. Wagner. (2023). Missing the bigger picture: Why insect monitoring programs are limited in their ability to document the effects of habitat loss. Conservation Letters, 16, e12951. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12951

Grames, E.M., G.A. Montgomery, C. Youngflesh, M.W. Tingley, and C.S. Elphick. (2023). The effect of insect food availability on songbird reproductive success and chick body condition: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ecology Letters, 00, 1– 16. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14178

Data & Databases

The EntoGEM working group maintains a living systematic map database of multi-year insect population and community studies, which can be found at entogem.shinyapps.io/living-map.

Meetings & Symposia

Unlocking AI for Automated Monitoring of Insects. Workshop at the 2023 Ecological Society of America meeting. Organized by Jamie Allison and Tom August.

Insectivorous bird conservation in the context of global insect decline. Symposium at the 2022 International Ornithological Congress in Durban, South Africa. Organized by Eliza Grames.

The Global Insect Decline Phenomenon. Symposium at the 2022 International Congress of Entomology in Helsinki, Finland. Organized by David Wagner and Eliza Grames with presentations by:

  • C. Riley Nelson. Fire: death by a thousand cuts in aquatic insect community assembly of streams in western North America, concerted and confounded variables in space and time.
  • Dianne Joy Aguilon. Local depressions play a key role in the maintenance of ant diversity in a forested mountain landscape
  • Holly Martinson. Drivers of insect biodiversity in urban green spaces: A review and meta-analysis
  • Tarja Viviane Dworrak. Nature conservation considering vector ecological burdens an interdisciplinary view on cases studies from Germany
  • Viktor Hartung. 30 years of arthropod monitoring in German beech forests: outcome and outlook
  • Jamie Allison. Towards global standards for automated insect monitoring
  • Eliza Grames. Identifying and integrating diverse datasets to understand insect decline: the EntoGEM project
  • James Pryke. Landscape scale ecological networks as a mitigation measure against global insect declines
  • Roel van Klink. Widespread loss of formerly dominant insect species and global biodiversity change
  • Nick Rodenhouse. Community-level change in insect abundance and biomass over 50 years in a northern forest
  • Susu Rytteri. Winners and losers of a boreal pollinator community reflect climate and land use changes
  • Dave Wagner. Precipitation changes as a driver of insect decline
  • James Liebherr. Human impacts on the Polynesian Beetle Fauna: An Ongoing Apocalypse
  • Richard Fox. Fifty years of Lepidoptera monitoring in Great Britain: trends and drivers of change
  • Lynn Dicks. Pollinator decline – a case study of the need for transformative change to avert biodiversity loss
  • Cecilie Svenningsen. Green is good, grey is bad? - Landscape-level drivers of flying insect biomass
  • Chris Elphick. Cascading effects of insect decline on insectivorous birds
  • Eelke Jongejaans. Abundance decline corresponds with reduced biodiversity in hoverflies, but not in aquatic insects
  • Jeff Harvey. Habitat management to enhance insect adaptation to climate change and climatic extremes
  • Chris Halsch. Leveraging different data types to identify butterflies of conservation concern in the American West.
  • Jan Christian Habel. Time-series to study insect decline
  • Akito Kawahara. Eight simple actions that individuals can take to save insects from global declines

Webinars

Sanchez Herrera, M., Pinto, Â.P., Maharaj, G., Stoll, E., Azeezat, A., and Ware, J. Colonialism and insect study. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. October 26, 2023.

How does it study of insects differ when working at an institution in the Global South? How has the history of colonialism and present day inequities shaped our research? Join us for this global conversation!

Owens, A. and B. Seymoure. Light pollution as a driver of insect declines. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. August 3, 2023.

Insect populations around the world appear to be declining rapidly. But why? While habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change all have something to do with it, we assert in this talk that light pollution is another often overlooked bringer of the insect apocalypse. Light pollution interferes with the development, dispersal, foraging, and reproduction of diverse insect taxa, including nocturnal pollinators and charismatic flagship species such as fireflies. Unlike other anthropogenic threats, light pollution can be cheaply, easily, and instantly eliminated — yet recent innovations in lighting technology have only made the problem worse. We highlight several case studies in beetles and moths revealing the negative consequences of lighting technologies on insect populations. We then conclude by highlighting a few simple things we can all do to help protect the night sky, fireflies, and the foundations of ecosystems worldwide.

Harvey, J. Habitat management to enhance arthropod adaptation to climate change and climatic extremes. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. May 25, 2023.
Bahlai, C. A bug and a feature: using models from open tech to catalyze RCN Working Groups. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. March 9, 2023.

In this webinar, we’re going to adapt some best-practices from Mozilla’s Working Open Workshop series to our project. Mainly, we’re going to discuss some structures Working Group organizers can build to help attract and retain new and diverse collaborators to their working groups, support contributors, and unite people under a set of common goals.

Grames, E. Aggregation and synthesis of existing data to assess insect biodiversity change. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. February 9, 2023.

An overview of what we do and don't know about data that can be used to quantify insect trends and disentangle drivers and the ongoing EntoGEM systematic map project.

Wagner, D. Insect Decline and the Status of Insects RCN. Status of Insects RCN Webinar Series. November 30, 2022.

An overview of insect decline, review of recent literature and new studies, and introduction of the goals and structure of the RCN.