Developing a robust approach to the monitoring and analysis of insect populations: trends in fly numbers in Québec and implications for insectivores

Insects, being dominant in almost all ecosystems, are vitally important for regulating ecosystem health. There are growing concerns that insect abundance is declining globally, causing serious consequences for ecosystem services. To understand insect abundance trends, and their drivers, we need long-term monitoring schemes that are sensitive enough to detect change over time whilst balancing against the need to be cost-effective. We also need to analyse existing datasets where available, improving analytical methods to make them more statistically robust. This project will address knowledge gaps by making use of extensively sampled data on fly abundance and biomass across gradients of agricultural intensity in Québec. I will analyse how agriculture influences long-term insect trends, adding robust evidence on insect population dynamics in a changing environment. I will quantify the effect of sampling effort and temporal and spatial scale used in the study to understand how future insect monitoring schemes could most efficiently capture long-term trends and impacts of environmental drivers. The findings will therefore inform the design of more efficient insect monitoring schemes and effective post-hoc analysis of datasets.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marc Bélisle

Student:

Partner:

University of Reading

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Life Sciences (not health); Agriculture and Food; Sustainability & the Environment

University:

Université de Sherbrooke

Program: