Common insect species are suffering the biggest losses

A new research paper suggests that terrestrial insect decline is being driven by losses among locally more common species - the species with the most individuals (the highest abundance) are disproportionately decreasing in number no other species have increased to the high numbers previously seen.  Examples include the Common froghopoper, Philaenus spumarius. This counters the common narrative that biodiversity loss is mostly characterized by declines of rare species. Given the importance of abundant species in ecosystems, their general declines are likely to have broad repercussions for food webs and ecosystem functioning. The authors conclude that:

"Abundant species are often disproportionately important for ecosystem structure, functioning and services, as well as for the diversity and abundance of higher trophic levels, so their declines are likely to have already led to a broad-scale rewiring of ecosystems, and will continue to do so." 

Disproportionate declines of formerly abundant species underlie insect loss. Nature, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06861-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06861-4