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Insect decline means a measured reduction in insect abundance, population trends, species richness, or biomass over a defined place and period. Those measures are related but not interchangeable, so there is no single percentage that describes every insect species and habitat worldwide.
The food-web concern is broader than pollination. Insects eat plants, fungi and other organisms; they are also food for predators; and they help move nutrients through ecosystems. When particular insects become less numerous or disappear, feeding relationships and ecosystem processes can change. The size and direction of that change depend on which insects are affected, where they live, and which ecological roles they perform.
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What “insect decline” actually measures
Scientists use the phrase as an umbrella term rather than a single standardized indicator. A long-term dataset might count individuals, estimate a population trend, record how many species are present, or measure the combined mass of captured insects. Each metric answers a different question.
| Metric | Question it answers | What a decline means |
|---|---|---|
| Abundance | How many individual insects are present or detected? | Fewer individuals in the sampled assemblage or population. |
| Population trend | Is a particular population increasing or decreasing through time? | A negative trajectory for the population being monitored. |
| Species richness | How many different insect species are recorded? | Fewer species in the sampled community, even if the remaining species are numerous. |
| Biomass | How much total insect mass is present? | Less combined mass; a few large insects can influence this measure more than many tiny ones. |
These indicators can move at different speeds or in opposite directions. A community could lose several rare species while retaining much of its total abundance, or keep the same number of species while losing most individuals of formerly common species. A biomass decline can also reflect a shift toward smaller-bodied insects rather than an equal reduction in every species.
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For that reason, a statement such as “insects are declining” should be followed by the taxonomic group, location, time span and metric. “Terrestrial insect abundance fell in the monitored sites” is a narrower and more accurate claim than “all insects are disappearing.”
What the large comparative evidence shows
The 2024 Nature analysis
A 2024 analysis in Nature combined records from 923 terrestrial insect assemblages in 106 studies. Across the assembled datasets, abundance and species richness declined together. At sites where observations could be resolved to species, formerly abundant species experienced the strongest average declines. Losses among those formerly abundant species explained much of the total decrease in abundance in the dataset. Read the Nature study.
This result matters because a community can change substantially even when a few adaptable species remain common. Losing formerly dominant species removes a large share of the individuals that once carried interactions with plants, predators, parasites and decomposers. The finding is evidence from the monitored assemblages included in the analysis, not a representative census of every insect order, continent or habitat.
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The 2020 G-Science Academies statement cites a historical example of a 75% reduction in flying-insect biomass over 27 years at particular monitoring sites in Germany. The figure describes those sites and that monitoring period; it is not a global decline rate and should not be applied to all insects or all regions. See the G-Science statement.
Why no single global percentage is defensible
Monitoring is uneven. Some places have long time series for a small number of groups, while other regions and insect taxa have little comparable information. Studies also differ in whether they count adults, larvae or both; sample a particular habitat; estimate biomass; or identify insects only to a broad taxonomic level. A decline in one dataset therefore cannot stand in for a universal trend.
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When reading a headline statistic, check four details:
- Geography: Is the result from one valley, country, biome or a multi-region compilation?
- Taxonomic scope: Which orders, families or functional groups were included?
- Response measure: Is the result about abundance, richness, biomass or a population trend?
- Time window: How many years were sampled, and were the observations collected consistently?
How insects connect the food web
Insects occupy many positions in food webs. They consume leaves, nectar, seeds, wood, fungi, carrion and other animals, while birds, bats, fish, amphibians, reptiles, spiders and other predators consume insects. Many species also host parasites and pathogens. A change in insect abundance can therefore affect both the resources insects use and the organisms that use insects as food.
Pollination links insects, plants and people
Pollination is the most familiar plant-facing connection. Insects visiting flowers can transfer pollen between flowers, enabling fertilization and seed production for many plant species. The IPBES pollination assessment reported that nearly 90% of wild flowering plant species depend to some extent on animal pollination. That statistic refers to wild flowering plants and animal pollination; it is not a claim that 90% of human food depends on insects, nor that every one of those plants is pollinated exclusively by insects. Read the IPBES Secretariat release.
Pollinator pressures are not identical everywhere. A decline in a local bee, fly, butterfly or moth community can reduce or alter visits to particular plants, but the effect depends on which pollinators remain and whether other animals can provide the same service. Some plants have specialized pollinators; others receive visits from many kinds of animals.
Insects are prey, not just service providers
Insect-eating predators may face a food shortage when the insects available during breeding, nesting or juvenile growth decline. The effect can be especially important when a predator depends on a seasonal pulse or a particular prey size. However, “fewer insects” does not automatically predict the same outcome for every predator: some can switch prey, move to another area or exploit an increasing species.
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Recycling and nutrient provisioning
Insects also help break down organic material and move nutrients through soil, freshwater and terrestrial systems. Dung beetles, carrion-feeding insects, termites, fly larvae and many other decomposers process material that would otherwise accumulate. Their activity makes nutrients available to plants and microorganisms and can influence soil structure and the speed at which carbon-containing material is returned to the environment. The G-Science Academies identify recycling and nutrient provisioning among the vital ecosystem services potentially eroded by insect declines. Read the statement.
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What can happen when insects decline?
Food webs are networks, so the consequences depend on the identity of the insects lost rather than on a simple count of total species.
Less food for insect-eating animals
If abundant prey species fall sharply, predators may receive fewer calories or less of a key nutrient. Breeding success, juvenile survival and movements can change where insects are a major seasonal food source. A decline in one prey species may be buffered by another, while the loss of several formerly common species can remove that flexibility.
Changes in plant reproduction
Fewer or less effective pollinator visits can reduce seed production for plants that rely on animal pollination. Over time, that can alter which plants recruit into a meadow, woodland edge or farm margin. The resulting plant community then changes the food and shelter available to herbivores and other insects, creating feedbacks rather than a one-step “insect loss equals crop failure” rule.
Slower or altered decomposition
When insects involved in shredding, burying or consuming organic material decline, decomposition pathways can change. Other organisms may partly replace their work, but replacement is not guaranteed, especially if the missing insects perform a specialized function or operate at a particular time of year.
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Rewired interactions
Predator and prey populations can respond at different rates. A predator may persist briefly by consuming alternative prey, while a plant may continue flowering even as its most effective pollinator becomes rare. Such mismatches can change interaction strength before an obvious species extinction occurs. The result may be a different food web, not an empty one.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which pressures are linked to pollinator decline?
IPBES identifies several pressures in its assessment of pollinators, pollination and food production. The list is specific to pollinators and should not be treated as a fixed ranking for every insect group.
Land-use change
Conversion of natural or semi-natural habitat can remove nesting sites, host plants, shelter and a continuous supply of flowers. Fragmentation can leave populations in small patches that are harder to reach or recolonize.
Intensive agriculture and pesticide use
Large areas of a single crop can provide abundant resources for a short period but little variety at other times. Intensive practices and pesticide exposure can affect pollinators directly or reduce the plants and organisms they depend on. The relative importance varies with the chemical, dose, timing, landscape and pollinator group.
Invasive alien species
Introduced organisms can change plant communities, compete with native pollinators, alter nesting resources or introduce new interactions. Effects differ by region and species; an introduced plant can provide food in one context while displacing more diverse native vegetation in another.
Diseases and pests
Pathogens, parasites and pests can reduce survival or reproduction. Movement of managed animals and trade can change how these pressures spread, but the risk is not uniform across pollinator species.
Climate change
Changing temperatures, rainfall patterns and the timing of seasonal events can shift where insects live and when they emerge, flower or reproduce. If insects and plants respond at different rates, the timing of pollination and food availability can become less synchronized.
IPBES presents these pressures as interacting factors, with their importance varying by place and group. Consult the IPBES pollination assessment.
How to interpret a claim about “the food chain”
“Food chain” is a useful shorthand, but most ecosystems contain overlapping food webs. A credible claim should identify the connection being discussed:
- For a pollination claim, specify the plant, pollinator group and geographic setting.
- For a predator claim, identify which insect prey and which consumer are involved.
- For a nutrient claim, name the process, such as dung burial, litter breakdown or carrion decomposition.
- For a trend claim, give the metric, dataset, time period and taxonomic scope.
This discipline prevents a local observation from being presented as a worldwide forecast. It also explains why two studies can report different outcomes without one necessarily invalidating the other: they may be measuring different insects, places, years or response variables.
What readers and communities can do without overclaiming
Habitat is directly relevant to pollinators. Protecting existing patches of vegetation, retaining a variety of locally appropriate flowering plants and avoiding unnecessary disturbance can provide food and shelter. Because plant–pollinator relationships differ by region, a universal seed mix or a single household intervention cannot be recommended from the evidence summarized here.
For a meaningful local picture, support monitoring that records the location, dates, taxonomic coverage and metric used. A count of visiting insects, a species list and a biomass estimate answer different questions; keeping those records separate makes future comparisons more useful.
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Insect decline is a pattern measured in particular populations or assemblages, not one worldwide number. The strongest comparative evidence currently shows simultaneous declines in abundance and species richness across the terrestrial assemblages analyzed, with formerly abundant species accounting for much of the abundance loss. Insects matter to food webs because they are consumers, prey, pollinators and agents of nutrient recycling. Losing them can alter plant reproduction, predator food supplies and decomposition, but the outcome depends on the species, place, time and ecological role involved.
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