The ‘insect apocalypse’ is a theme that has been taken up as a popular discussion point lately, driven in part by recent papers such as ‘Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers’ by Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys. Those of us who work in this area – entomologists, insect ecologists and others – have been aware of declines in insect abundance and diversity for decades. Unfortunately, because our understanding of these declines is limited there are multiple views, and multiple claims and counter-claims made concerning the geographic and taxonomic extents of these declines; and the discussion has become somewhat emotional at times…like all worthwhile discussions! What I think we can all agree on is that old chestnut: ‘more work needs to be done’. In the meantime, as more work is done and our understanding improves, let’s welcome all the sources of information available and all the different points of view and let’s keep the discussion going!
