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Cited by 844

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 180 of the 180 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Scientists' warning to humanity on insect extinctions

Open access
Cardoso, Pedro, Barton, Philip S., Birkhofer, Klaus, Chichorro, Filipe, Deacon, Charl, Fartmann, Thomas, Fukushima, Caroline S., Gaigher, René, Habel, Jan C., Hallmann, Caspar A., Hill, Matthew J., Hochkirch, Axel, Kwak, Mackenzie L., Mammola, Stefano, Ari Noriega, Jorge, Orfinger, Alexander B., Pedraza, Fernando, Pryke, James S., Roque, Fabio O., Settele, Josef, Simaika, John P., Stork, Nigel E., Suhling, Frank, Vorster, Carlien, Samways, Michael J.·2020·Biological Conservation
DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108426
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Abstract

Here we build on the manifesto ‘World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, issued by the Alliance of World Scientists. As a group of conservation biologists deeply concerned about the decline of insect populations, we here review what we know about the drivers of insect extinctions, their consequences, and how extinctions can negatively impact humanity. We are causing insect extinctions by driving habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, use of polluting and harmful substances, the spread of invasive species, global climate change, direct overexploitation, and co-extinction of species dependent on other species. With insect extinctions, we lose much more than species. We lose abundance and biomass of insects, diversity across space and time with consequent homogenization, large parts of the tree of life, unique ecological functions and traits, and fundamental parts of extensive networks of biotic interactions. Such losses lead to the decline of key ecosystem services on which humanity depends. From pollination and decomposition, to being resources for new medicines, habitat quality indication and many others, insects provide essential and irreplaceable services. We appeal for urgent action to close key knowledge gaps and curb insect extinctions. An investment in research programs that generate local, regional and global strategies that counter this trend is essential. Solutions are available and implementable, but urgent action is needed now to match our intentions.

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Metadata

Authors
Cardoso, P., Barton, P. S., Birkhofer, K., Chichorro, F., Deacon, C., Fartmann, T., Fukushima, C. S., Gaigher, R., Habel, J. C., Hallmann, C. A., Hill, M. J., Hochkirch, A., Kwak, M. L., Mammola, S., Ari Noriega, J., Orfinger, A. B., Pedraza, F., Pryke, J. S., Roque, F. O., Settele, J., Simaika, J. P., Stork, N. E., Suhling, F., Vorster, C., & Samways, M. J.
Venue
Biological Conservation
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-02
Volume
242
Pages
108426
ISSN
0006-3207 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108426
OpenAlex
W3005050626
Cited by
844
References
180
FWCI
89.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Scientists' warning to humanity on insect extinctions. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108426
The paper
Cardoso, P., Barton, P. S., Birkhofer, K., Chichorro, F., Deacon, C., Fartmann, T., Fukushima, C. S., Gaigher, R., Habel, J. C., Hallmann, C. A., Hill, M. J., Hochkirch, A., Kwak, M. L., Mammola, S., Ari Noriega, J., Orfinger, A. B., Pedraza, F., Pryke, J. S., Roque, F. O., . . . Samways, M. J. (2020). Scientists' warning to humanity on insect extinctions. Biological Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108426

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.