Ecology: Negative impacts of agriculture and climate change on insect biodiversity
A paper reporting that the interaction between the use of land for highly intensive agriculture and past climate warming is associated with a reduction in insect abundance of approximately 50%.Nature Will be published in.
Climate change and land-use changes have been shown to affect insect biodiversity, and these two factors can act synergistically.For example, clearing natural habitats to create agricultural land can change microclimates and raise extremes of temperature.However, the impact of these factors on the interaction of insect biodiversity is not as well understood as in other animal species.
Charlotte Outhwaite, Peter McCann, and Tim Newbold now address this knowledge gap by combining data on changes in temperature and land use with 6000 years of data on insect biodiversity at more than 20 sites worldwide. , 1 species of insects (beetles, flies, bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, etc.) were compared for changes in land use and climatic conditions.As a result, if the land is used for highly intensive agriculture (characterized by low crop diversity or high livestock concentration) and there is warming that exceeds baseline temperature fluctuations. It was found that the abundance of insects was 7889% lower and the abundance of species was 49% lower than in habitats that were less disturbed and warmed slowly. Outhwaites and colleagues say that the negative effects of climate change on insect biodiversity are mitigated by the presence of surrounding natural habitats, but in extreme temperatures this buffering effect may not be significant. It shows the view that there is.
Insects play important roles in ecosystems such as pollination and pest control.A better understanding of the factors that change insect biodiversity may guide conservation efforts.
[Original English »]
"Highlights of Nature Magazines" is a translation of a release made by Nature's public relations department for the press.If you need more accurate and detailed information, be sure to read the original paper.
* This article is reprinted from "Nature Japan Featured Highlights".
Reprinted from: "Ecology: The negative effects of agriculture and climate change on insect biodiversity'
