Martin M. Gossner, Florian Menzel and Nadja K. Simons Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich 8092, Switzerland Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Hanns-Dieter-Hüsch-Weg 15, Mainz 55128, Germany Ecological Networks, Department of Biology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 3, Darmstadt 64287, Germany

Less overall, but more of the same: drivers of insect population trends lead to community homogenization

Insect species are responding to human caused global changes, sparking an urgent need for more conservation and management. Recent publications indicate the speed and scale of these changes to be both fast and large, impacting ecosystem function and human health. Community scientists are contributing vast amounts of data on insect occurrence and abundance to publicly available biodiversity platforms.These data are then used by ecologists to estimate insect diversity and distributions and forecast species’ responses to the stressors of the Anthropocene. Yet, challenges remain with taxonomy, species identification, and sampling, some of which can be improved by new tools and approaches. Here we review the open, global community science programs providing the majority of publicly available insect data.We explore the advantages, challenges, and next steps with these large-scale community science ventures, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between professionals and community scientists to jointly address the conservation of insects. 

Community scientists produce open data for understanding insects and climate change.

Preserving natural genetic diversity and ecological function of wild species is a central goal in conservation biology. As such, anthropogenic hybridization is considered a threat to wild populations, as it can lead to changes in the genetic makeup of wild species and even to the extinction of wild genomes. In European wildcats, the genetic and ecological impacts of gene flow from domestic cats are mostly unknown at the species scale. However, in small and isolated populations, it is known to include genetic swamping of wild genomes. In this context, it is crucial to better understand the dynamics of hybridization across the species range, to inform and implement management measures that maintain the genetic diversity and integrity of the European wildcat. In the present paper, we aim to provide an overview of the current scientific understanding of anthropogenic hybridization in European wildcats, to clarify important aspects regarding the evaluation of hybridization given the available methodologies, and to propose guidelines for management and research priorities.

A common statement on anthropogenic hybridization of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris)

Honey is utilized not only as a nutritive product but also in health depicted traditional medicine and also substitute treatment for clinical settings ranging from wound curing to tumor treatment. This review emphasizes the capability of honey and its importance in medicinal aspects. Conventionally, honey is used in the treatment of blindness eye problem, respiratory asthma, throat contaminations, tuberculosis, dehydration, hitches, tiredness, shakiness, constipation, eczema, hepatitis, worm plague, piles, ulcers, wounds and used as healthful supplement. The components of honey have been conveyed to exercise antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiproliferative, and antimetastatic properties. Agricultural pesticides effect with antibiotics is a challenging problem in modern collected honey that needs to be addressed. Honey consumed as medicine and their contamination may transfer serious health risks. Honey are polluted by pesticides, heavy metals, and radioactive materials. Pesticide deposits create genetic mutations of healthy cells. Assimilation of honey without significant its source and defensive effect might be challenging. Pure honey should be labeled to discover its composition, origin and strong activities that is unrestricted from pollutants. It also not functional to injuries or used for therapeutic determinations. This paper reviews the health impact and extent of honey contamination. Also discussed the different nanoparticles associated with honey and their characterization. 

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Contamination of Honey: A Human Health Perspective

Abstract Orthoptera encompasses 29,000 species. Due to their ability to migrate long-distances through hitchhiking or active dispersal but also due to their wide dietary spectrum, several orthoptera species can pose a phytosanitary threat. Despite information being scarce and contrasting among sources, we compiled literature on non-native Orthoptera species in Europe for this scoping review. We identified 41 relevant species, 35 are non-native (non-native to Europe n = 8, partly native to Europe n = 21, native range unknown/no information available n = 6), two arguably invasive species to Europe due to proven impacts, two are questionable and another two cryptogenic. Of these, 23 species are considered established. The two invasive orthopterans were the Moroccan Locust Dociostaurus maroccanus and the Desert Locust Schistocerca gregaria , which are invasive in several European countries. Non-native orthopterans can react very positively to climate warming, resulting in expanding geographical distributions. Furthermore, the number of invasive orthopterans in Europe is likely higher due to a paucity of assessments, increasing introduction rates, and observable impacts on agriculture as well as native species. While e.g., the Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria causes large-scale damage to crops by forming swarms, the southern oak bush cricket Meconema meridionale has a negative impact on native species, but neither species is listed as invasive. Besides this, there are other non-native Orthoptera species that could become invasive given increasing reproduction rates due to suitable conditions. Globalization and rising temperatures due to global warming are both increasing introduction rates and concomitantly the availability of suitable locations for reproduction, successful establishments, and finally swarm building. This will increase the probability of damages to agriculture, thus the economy and native biodiversity, eventually endangering human well-being. It is therefore important to monitor and study the invasiveness and impacts of non-native Orthoptera species to develop efficient management or preventive mitigation strategies. 

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2828952/latest.pdf

Assessing non-native invasive Orthoptera in Europe

Climate and land-use changes are main drivers of insect declines, but their combined effects have not yet been quantified over large spatiotemporal scales. We analysed changes in the distribution (mean occupancy of squares) of 390 insect species (butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies), using 1.45 million records from across bioclimatic gradients of Switzerland between 1980 and 2020. We found no overall decline, but strong increases and decreases in the distributions of different species. For species that showed strongest increases (25% quantile), the average proportion of occupied squares increased in 40 years by 0.128 (95% credible interval: 0.123-0.132), which equals an average increase in mean occupancy of 71.3% (95% CI: 67.4-75.1%) relative to their 40-year mean occupancy. For species that showed strongest declines (25% quantile), the average proportion decreased by 0.0660 (95% CI: 0.0613-0.0709), equalling an average decrease in mean occupancy of 58.3% (95% CI: 52.2-64.4%). Decreases were strongest for narrow-ranged, specialised, and cold-adapted species. Short-term distribution changes were associated to both climate changes and regional land-use changes. Moreover, interactive effects between climate and regional land-use changes confirm that the various drivers of global change can have even greater impacts on biodiversity in combination than alone. In contrast, 40-year distribution changes were not clearly related to regional land-use changes, potentially reflecting mixed changes in local land use after 1980. Climate warming however was strongly linked to 40-year changes, indicating its key role in driving insect trends of temperate regions in recent decades. 

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Different roles of concurring climate and regional land-use changes in past 40 years’ insect trends

Multi-species population indices for sets of species including rare, disappearing or newly occurring species

Local floristic diversity has massively decreased during the twentieth century in Central Europe even though in the 1990s diversity began increasing again in several regions. However, little is known whether this increase is equally distributed among plant groups with different reproductive traits.Our study is based on data of the Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring Program. In this program, plant species occurrence is recorded since 2001 in 450 regularly distributed 1 km2 study sites. For all 1774 plant species registered in the study, we researched data on flower/pseudanthium type and colour, reproductive system, and groups of flower visitors. We then tested whether temporal changes in species frequency were equally distributed among species with different trait states.Species richness and functional richness significantly increased in the study sites while functional evenness decreased. The frequency of wind-pollinated species increased more strongly than that of insect-pollinated species. Further, the frequency of species with simple, open insect-pollinated flowers and pseudanthia visited by generalist groups of insects increased slightly more strongly than the frequency of species with complex flowers visited by more specialized groups of flower visitors. Additionally, the frequency of self-compatible species increased significantly more than that of self-incompatible species. Thus, the overall increase in local plant species richness in Switzerland is mostly driven by wind- and generalist insect-pollinated, self-compatible species. In contrast, species with complex flowers, which are essential for specialized groups of flower visitors and species with self-incompatible reproductive systems profited less.Our study thus emphasizes the need to consider functional traits in the planning and monitoring of conservation activities, and calls for a special focus on plant species with specialized reproductive traits. 

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Temporal changes in the Swiss flora: implications for flower-visiting insects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110029

Monitoring distribution, density and introgression in European wildcats in Switzerland

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2022.101902

Hierarchical change-point regression models including random effects to estimate empirical critical loads for nitrogen using Bayesian Regression Models (brms) and JAGS

Tobias Roth

Papers

Different roles of concurring climate and regional land-use changes in past 40 years’ insect trends

Multi-species population indices for sets of species including rare, disappearing or newly occurring species

Temporal changes in the Swiss flora: implications for flower-visiting insects

Monitoring distribution, density and introgression in European wildcats in Switzerland

Hierarchical change-point regression models including random effects to estimate empirical critical loads for nitrogen using Bayesian Regression Models (brms) and JAGS