Parallel declines in abundance of insects and insectivorous birds in Denmark over 22 years.

ABSTRACT: Farmers in most western countries have increased use of fertilizer and pesticides with impact on wild animals and plants, including the abundance of insects and their predators.I used 1,375 surveys of insects killed on car windscreens as a measure of insect abundance during 1997-2017 at two transects in Denmark. I cross-validated this method against three other methods for sampling insect abundance, and I investigated the effects of this measure of insect abundance on the abundance of breeding insectivorous birds.The abundance of flying insects was quantified using a windscreen resulting in reductions of 80% and 97% at two transects of 1.2 km and 25 km, respectively, according to general additive mixed model. Insect abundance increased with time of day, temperature, and June date, but decr

SUBMITTER: Moller AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6580276 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature