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Insecticides, more than herbicides, land use, and climate, are associated with declines in butterfly species richness and abundance in the American Midwest

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Van Deynze, B., Swinton, S.M., Hennessy, D.A., Haddad, N.M. and Ries, L., 2024. Insecticides, more than herbicides, land use, and climate, are associated with declines in butterfly species richness and abundance in the American Midwest. PLOS ONE, 19(6), p.e0304319, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304319.

Summary

Mounting evidence shows overall insect abundances are in decline globally. Habitat loss, climate change, and pesticides have all been implicated, but their relative effects have never been evaluated in a comprehensive large-scale study. We harmonized 17 years of land use, climate, multiple classes of pesticides, and butterfly survey data across 81 counties in five states in the US Midwest. We find community-wide declines in total butterfly abundance and species richness to be most strongly associated with insecticides in general, and for butterfly species richness the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds in particular. This included the abundance of the migratory monarch (Danaus plexippus), whose decline is the focus of intensive debate [...]

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  • Midwest CASC
  • National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers

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citationTypeJournal Article
journalPLOS ONE
parts
typeVolume
value19
typeIssue
value6
typeDOI
valuehttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304319
typeArticle
valuee0304319

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