Author ORCID Identifier
Mayra C. Vidal: 0000-0003-3374-8050
Mariana Abarca:0000-0002-6944-2574
Kristi Backe:0000-0002-2436-4912
Anne E. Curé:0000-0002-8142-7633
Deborah L. Finke: 0000-0001-8291-1964
Amanda M. Koltz:0000-0002-7341-4306
Alycia C. R. Lackey:0000-0001-8279-6417
J. Christina Mitchell:0000-0003-1872-1845
Rebecca M. Prather:0000-0002-3655-5716
Ellen A. R. Welti:0000-0001-6944-3422
Gina M Wimp:0000-0002-6255-109X
Shannon M. Murphy:0000-0002-5746-6536
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2025
Publication Title
Insect Conservation and Diversity
Abstract
1. Global change is causing major declines in biodiversity, especially of insects. Scien- tific interest in global change impacts on insects has increased in recent years, resulting in many different meta-analyses examining questions within this topic.
2. We performed a comprehensive review of meta-analyses examining the effects of global change stressors on insects to identify well-studied questions and gaps in our knowledge and synthesise the responses of insects to those stressors. We iden- tified 75 meta-analyses that fit our scope, accounting for 905 meta-results and spanning 18 global change stressors.
3. Our synthesis identified several global change stressors that are relatively well- studied across insect groups, such as agriculture, habitat degradation, and pesticide use. Moreover, other global change stressors were found to be relatively less stud- ied, highlighting areas that need more attention; for example, very few metaanalyses considered the impacts of global warming, ozone, light pollution, and inter- active effects of multiple stressors on insects.
4. Most stressors are more associated with negative than positive effects on insects, except for nutrient addition, ozone, and air pollution. Negative effects accounted for the large majority of consequences on reproductive responses, which may help explain recent insect declines. Additionally, we found evidence for higher trophic levels being more negatively affected by global change and insects in aquatic habi- tats experiencing fewer negative responses to stressors.
5. Given these largely negative impacts of global change on insects, we argue for the need for national and local policy actions to monitor and actively conserve insect communities.
Keywords
agriculture, anthropogenic change, arthropods, climate change, fire, functional group, habitat alteration, nutrients, pesticides, pollution
First Page
1
Last Page
17Insect Conservation
DOI
10.1111/icad.12845
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2025 The Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Vidal, Mayra C.; Abarca, Mariana; Backe, Kristi; Curé, Anne E.; Finke, Deborah L.; Koltz, Amanda M.; Lackey, Alycia C.R.; Mitchell, J. Christina; Prather, Rebecca M.; Welti, Ellen A.R.; Wimp, Gina M.; and Murphy, Shannon M., "What Do We Know about Insect Responses to Global Change? A Review of Meta-Analyses on Global Change Drivers" (2025). Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/bio_facpubs/321
Comments
Archived as published.