Changes to El Niño Occurrence Are Causing Widespread Tropical Insect and Spider Declines

Climate-fuelled El Niño events are devastating butterflies, beetles and other tropical insects

Insects are arguably the most important animals on the planet. Their variety is unparalleled in nature, and they carry out vital tasks such as pollinating plants and providing food for other animals. But all is not well in the insect world. Research over the last few years has shown sustained declines in insect species and numbers. It appeared Earth was witnessing a global-scale crash in insects – and climate change was partly to blame. The evid…

Changes to El Niño occurrence are causing widespread tropical insect and spider declines

Arthropods, including insects and spiders, make up the vast majority of animal species on the planet.

Stronger El Niños reduce tropical forest arthropod diversity and function

There is ongoing debate about the vulnerability of arthropods to climate change1,2. Long-term impacts of climate change on arthropod communities could manifest through short-term weather patterns3. Arthropods in the tropics are hyper-diverse4,5 and contribute many crucial ecosystem functions6,7, but are comparatively less studied than in temperate regions1,8,9. Tropical forest arthropods and the functions that they provide may be vulnerable to i…

El Niño Shifts Trigger Widespread Declines in Tropical Insect and Spider

In the sprawling and biologically rich tropical forests of our planet, arthropods such as insects, spiders, and their kin form the backbone of ecosystem functionality. Despite their minuscule size, these creatures carry out ecological processes that are indispensable, sustaining intricate food webs and driving nutrient cycles. Yet, emerging research published in Nature reveals a harrowing […]

El Niño May Cause Spider Declines

The El Niño climate phenomenon is consistently inconsistent, which plays havoc with computer models hoping to anticipate the effects of increased emissions from large polluting countries like China.It may even be causing periodic booms and busts in spiders and overall insects.