Cameras that photograph insects overnight and AI that identifies them are among a new generation of tools that could finally allow scientists to track whether the world's plan to save nature is working for its most overlooked creatures.
A global team of scientists have found that 23 biodiversity targets agreed by world governments to protect and restore nature by 2030 are well-designed and could, if met, help reverse falling insect numbers. However, the researchers highlight that dragonflies and damselflies are the only insect group to have been fully assessed for extinction risk globally, illustrating that very few measurements used to track progress are sensitive enough to detect changes in insect populations.
A new study, published today (Thursday, 19 March) in the journal Conservation Letters, recommends the United Nations establishes a dedicated working group to develop insect-focused measurements, and outlines several practical tools that could be used to create a worldwide picture of insect health.
Dr Andrew Bladon, lead author from the University of Reading, said: "Insects are the foundations of life on Earth, and we are only just beginning to understand how fast we are losing them.
"Technology is opening up possibilities that simply did not exist a decade ago. We can now monitor insects at a scale and speed that was unimaginable to previous generations of scientists. The big question is whether governments are willing to use new technology to hold themselves to account. A plan to save nature that cannot measure whether nature is actually recovering is not good enough."
New tools to count the uncountable
Insects make up the vast majority of animal species on Earth. More than one million have been named, and scientists estimate that a further four million are yet to be discovered, but previous studies show that their populations are falling by around 1% each year on average.
Until now, tracking that decline at a global scale has been challenging, but the study identifies several practical tools that could help:
Automated camera traps set up in fields and woodlands can photograph every moth and other insect that visits overnight. AI software then works through the images, identifying each species without any human involvement, making it possible to gather far more data than traditional methods allow
Weather radar, normally used to track rain and wind, can also detect the movement of insects flying in large numbers. Scientists are developing ways to use this data to track how insect populations shift across entire countries and regions over time
Members of the public can record insects they spot, building up a picture of where species are found and how their numbers are changing. Experts and AI tools check and verify the records, making the data reliable enough to use in scientific assessments
Existing records of insect populations, gathered over decades by researchers and monitoring schemes around the world, could be pulled together to create a baseline that governments report against when measuring progress on nature recovery
Professor Lynn Dicks, senior author from the University of Cambridge, said: "If you tally up all the species on Earth, most of them are insects. They are critical to the ecosystems we all depend on, and current evidence suggests their populations are falling. The global nature plan actually contains all the right ingredients to turn that around. The problem is that the indicators being used to measure success are largely unable to detect any response by insects. We could be doing all the right things and have absolutely no way of knowing whether it is working."
