Declining insect abundance and diversity in Germany 2008-2017

Insect abundance and diversity Germany 2008-2017 Nature — (a) Insect diversity (total number of species across all grassland or forest sites) (b), biomass, (c) abundance and (d) number of species (d) in 30 forest and 150 grassland sites across Germany

In this article insect abundance data collected from 150 grassland and 140 forest sites in 3 regions of Germany from 2008 to 2017 was analyzed. A total of about 2,700 species were identified. ), from standardized inventories taken between 2008 and 2017 at 150 grassland and 140 forest sites in 3 regions of Germany. Insect abundance, total biomass of insects, number of species and diversity were calculated for wach year. It was found that diversity in grasslands and forests decreased over time, indicating loss of species across sites and regions. In annually sampled grasslands, biomass, abundance and number of species declined by 67%, 78% and 34%, respectively. In 30 forest sites with annual inventories, biomass and number of species, but not abundance, decreased by 41% and 36%, respectively.

Seibold, S., Gossner, M.M., Simons, N.K. et al. Arthropod decline in grasslands and forests is associated with landscape-level drivers. Nature 574, 671–674 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1684-3

From Our Files

Black carbon in the atmosphere infographic

Black carbon is the second most important anthropogenic contribution to climate warming

A reanalysis of the effect of black carbon emissions has found that it is second only to carbon dioxide emissions in its warming impact on the climate. Together carbon dioxide, black carbon, and methane emissions represent the anthropogenic sources with the largest impact on Earth’s climate.

Correlation of temperature and CO2 for last 420,000 years from Vostok

EC Perspective: Accounting for 800,000 years of climate change

Approximately 800,000 years ago something changed in the Earth’s climate system that led to the climate then following a series of approximately 100,000 year cycles. Small, predictable changes in the Earth’s orbit about the Sun act as triggers for the glacial and interglacial periods, but other factors such as ice sheet volume, CO2 concentration, and biological feedback mechanisms are also involved.

Simple rule accounts for onset of ice age deglaciations over the past three million years

A recent study has created a simple mathematical rule that can account for the timing of the onset of interglacials following ice ages over the past three million years. The rule is based on predictable long-term astronomical variations in the Earth’s orbit and tilt called Milankovitch cycles.

Milankovitch cycles Nature December 8 2016

Link between Milankovitch’s theory of orbital forcing and ice ages remains an open question

A seminal book by Milankovitch in 1941 proposed that the sequence of ice ages that has characterized long term changes in the Earth’s climate over the past hundreds of thousands of years was due to changes in the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth as a result of small variations in the Earth’s orientation and orbit with respect to the sun. Since then research has shown that Milankovitch cycles by themselves do not determine the timing of glacial and interglacial cycles and that we still lack a unified mechanism that links changes in Earth’s orbit to ice ages.