October 21, 2018

Disappearance of insects in Puerto Rican forests

Science Magazine  - Insects and other arthropods have declined by up to 99% over 4 decades in a Puerto Rican forest, apparently because of climate change, according to new study. And that’s not the only bad news.

Previously, most insect declines have been documented in temperate ecosystems and blamed on habitat destruction, insecticides, and climate change. In 1976–77, one of the authors of the new study surveyed insects and other arthropods—such as millipedes and pillbugs—in the protected Luquillo rainforest of Puerto Rico with sticky traps and nets. He returned several times between 2011 and 2013 to see how the populations were faring. The weight of arthropods collected in traps on the ground was 97% less than before, he and a colleague report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The 10 most common species living in the forest canopy also declined, as did the population of walking stick insects.

1 comment:

AgustinG said...

How much of the loss might actually be attributable to factors other than climate change? For instance, one of the main things I noticed when I visited Puerto Rico is how over-populated it is. There are a lot of houses and roads where there was once jungle. That means there is more pollution, too. Seems like there would need to be more study done before it could conclusively be blamed on climate change.