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Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Numerous studies report a decline in insect biodiversity and biomass on a global scale. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question of whether this discipline will be or already is affected by such a decrease is not only posed to investigative authoritie...

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Autor principal: Amendt, Jens
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8067358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33917358
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040324
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author Amendt, Jens
author_facet Amendt, Jens
author_sort Amendt, Jens
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description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Numerous studies report a decline in insect biodiversity and biomass on a global scale. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question of whether this discipline will be or already is affected by such a decrease is not only posed to investigative authorities and the public, but also to the scientific community. While the data does indeed provide overwhelming evidence of insect decline, even if the methods of evaluation and data pooling are occasionally questioned, only a few studies deal with forensically relevant insects. These few data do hardly prove a decrease in forensically relevant insect species so far. However, one factor driving insect decline is likely to have also a strong influence on necrophagous insects in the future: climate change. ABSTRACT: Recent reports have shown a dramatic loss in insect species and biomass. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question is whether this decline effects the discipline. The present review confirms that numerous studies document insect population declines or even extinction, despite the fact that the rates of decline and the methods used to demonstrate it are still much debated. However, with regard to a decline in necrophagous insects, there is little or only anecdotal data available. A hypothetical decrease in species diversity and population density in necrophagous insects could lead to a delayed colonization of dead bodies and a modified succession pattern due to the disappearance or new occurrence of species or their altered seasonality. Climate change as one of the drivers of insect decline will probably also have an impact on necrophagous insects and forensic entomology, leading to reduced flight and oviposition activity, modified growth rates and, therefore, an over- or underestimation of a minimum postmortem interval. Global warming with increased temperature and extreme weather requires a better understanding about necrophagous insect responses to environmental variations. Here, transgeneration effects in particular should be analysed in greater depth as this will help to understand rapid adaptation and plasticity in insects of forensic importance.
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spelling pubmed-80673582021-04-25 Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue? Amendt, Jens Insects Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: Numerous studies report a decline in insect biodiversity and biomass on a global scale. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question of whether this discipline will be or already is affected by such a decrease is not only posed to investigative authorities and the public, but also to the scientific community. While the data does indeed provide overwhelming evidence of insect decline, even if the methods of evaluation and data pooling are occasionally questioned, only a few studies deal with forensically relevant insects. These few data do hardly prove a decrease in forensically relevant insect species so far. However, one factor driving insect decline is likely to have also a strong influence on necrophagous insects in the future: climate change. ABSTRACT: Recent reports have shown a dramatic loss in insect species and biomass. Since forensic entomology relies on the presence of insects, the question is whether this decline effects the discipline. The present review confirms that numerous studies document insect population declines or even extinction, despite the fact that the rates of decline and the methods used to demonstrate it are still much debated. However, with regard to a decline in necrophagous insects, there is little or only anecdotal data available. A hypothetical decrease in species diversity and population density in necrophagous insects could lead to a delayed colonization of dead bodies and a modified succession pattern due to the disappearance or new occurrence of species or their altered seasonality. Climate change as one of the drivers of insect decline will probably also have an impact on necrophagous insects and forensic entomology, leading to reduced flight and oviposition activity, modified growth rates and, therefore, an over- or underestimation of a minimum postmortem interval. Global warming with increased temperature and extreme weather requires a better understanding about necrophagous insect responses to environmental variations. Here, transgeneration effects in particular should be analysed in greater depth as this will help to understand rapid adaptation and plasticity in insects of forensic importance. MDPI 2021-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8067358/ /pubmed/33917358 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040324 Text en © 2021 by the author. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Amendt, Jens
Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title_full Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title_fullStr Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title_full_unstemmed Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title_short Insect Decline—A Forensic Issue?
title_sort insect decline—a forensic issue?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8067358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33917358
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12040324
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