Insects decline with host plants but coextinctions may be limited.

ABSTRACT: The loss of wild plant populations is often assumed to lead to coextinctions, particularly among specialized insects. Despite global declines in both terrestrial insects and plants, the relationship between these trends remains elusive. Here, we address this gap by analyzing the relationship between population trends of insects and their host plants in Germany, encompassing over 150,000 interactions among 3,429 plant and 2,239 insect species, including both pollinators (bees and hoverflies) and herbivores (butterflies, moths, and sawflies). Our findings reveal parallel population declines of insects and host plants across taxa, except for more generalist hoverflies. However, simulated extinctions of threatened host plants led to limited coextinctions in insects. Notably, 96% of insect spec

SUBMITTER: Bassi MIE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11536161 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature