Explanipedia

Spatio‐Temporal Variation in Aerial Arthropod Abundance Revealed by Weather Radars Open

Mansi Mungee, Maryna Lukach, C. R. Shortall, James R. Bell, Elizabeth J. Duncan , et al. · 2025

Arthropod declines have been reported widely; however, a lack of comprehensive data has hindered our ability to assess their large‐scale generality and drivers. Here, we used a novel and freely available dataset—atmospheric scans from a ne…

Author Correction: Trait mediation explains decadal distributional shifts for a wide range of insect taxa Open

Yoann Bourhis, Alice E. Milne, C. R. Shortall, Björn C. Beckmann, Dan Blumgart , et al. · 2025

Trait mediation explains decadal distributional shifts for a wide range of insect taxa Open

Yoann Bourhis, Alice E. Milne, C. R. Shortall, Björn C. Beckmann, Dan Blumgart , et al. · 2025

State of nature 2023 terrestrial and freshwater animal dataset for the United Kingdom and its constituent countries Open

Fiona Burns, Simone Mordue, Nida Al‐Fulaij, Philipp Boersh-Supan, Katherine L. Boughey , et al. · 2025

This article describes the terrestrial and freshwater animal trend data used in creating the 2023 State of Nature reports for the UK and its constituent countries. Trend data for long- (1970-2020/21) and short-term (2010-2020) periods have…

Swift sampling of farmland aerial invertebrates offers insights into foraging behaviour in an aerial insectivore Open

Hannah Romanowski, Kelly Jowett, Dion Garrett, C. R. Shortall · 2024

The common swift Apus apus is an obligate aerial, migratory, insectivorous bird, that has experienced significant declines in the UK since the 1990s. Reductions in the availability of prey during their summer breeding season in the UK are …

Explainable neural networks for trait‐based multispecies distribution modelling—A case study with butterflies and moths Open

Yoann Bourhis, James R. Bell, C. R. Shortall, William E. Kunin, Alice E. Milne · 2023

Species response traits mediate environmental effects on species distribution. Traits are used in joint and multispecies distribution models (JSDMs and MSDMs) to enable community‐wide shared parameters that characterise niche filtering alo…

Long‐term trends in migrating Brassicogethes aeneus in the UK Open

C. R. Shortall, S. M. Cook, Alice L. Mauchline, James R. Bell · 2023

BACKGROUND The pollen beetle ( Brassicogethes aeneus ) causes significant yield loss in oilseed rape ( Brassica napus ). Predicting population changes remains a scientific challenge, especially since its phenology and abundance varies dram…

Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades Open

Sarah H. Luke, Helen E. Roy, Chris D. Thomas, Luke A. N. Tilley, Simon Ward , et al. · 2023

Entomology is key to understanding terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems at a time of unprecedented anthropogenic environmental change and offers substantial untapped potential to benefit humanity in a variety of ways, from improving agric…

The temporal and spatial ecology of Brassicogethes (Meligethes) aeneus Open

C. R. Shortall · 2023

Pollen beetles (Brassicogethes (Meligethes) aeneus) are a common and pernicious pest of oilseed rape. This study investigated the migration ecology of B. aeneus using suction-trap data from the longest-running terrestrial insect dataset in…

Where and why are species' range shifts hampered by unsuitable landscapes? Open

Jenny A. Hodgson, Z. Randle, C. R. Shortall, Tom H. Oliver · 2022

There is widespread concern that species will fail to track climate change if habitat is too scarce or insufficiently connected. Targeted restoration has been advocated to help species adapt, and a “conductance” metric has been proposed, b…

Suction-trapped pollen beetle count and location data Open

C. R. Shortall · 2021

Data on daily counts of pollen beetles (Brassicogethes aeneus) collected from suction-traps in the Rothamsted Insect Survey network for PhD thesis "Spatial and Temporal Ecology of Brassicogethes (Meligethes) aeneus".

Changes in phenology and abundance of suction‐trapped Diptera from a farmland site in the UK over four decades Open

Swantje Grabener, Jens Oldeland, C. R. Shortall, R. Harrington · 2020

1. Recently documented insect declines have caused major concerns and an increased interest in studies using long‐term population‐monitoring data. 2. Samples from a 12.2‐m suction trap were used to examine trends in phenology and abundance…

Are insects declining and at what rate? An analysis of standardised, systematic catches of aphid and moth abundances across Great Britain Open

James R. Bell, Dan Blumgart, C. R. Shortall · 2020

Although we have known anecdotally that insects have been declining in Great Britain for more than 100 years, insect declines have only been statistically estimated over the last 20 years. Estimation of the rate of those declines is still …

Population genetic structure and predominance of cyclical parthenogenesis in the bird cherry‐oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi in England Open

Ramiro Morales‐Hojas, Asier Gonzalez‐Uriarte, Fernando Alvira-Iraizoz, Todd Jenkins, L. J. Alderson , et al. · 2020

Genetic diversity is the determinant for pest species’ success and vector competence. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine the genetic diversity is fundamental to help identify the spatial scale at which p…

Rothamsted Insect Survey, Moth and Aphid catch abundance data Open

James R. Bell, Dan Blumgart, C. R. Shortall · 2020

This dataset contains Moth and Aphid catch abundance data from the Rothamsted Insect Survey light-trap and suction trap networks. The dataset is a supplement to Bell et al (2020) (https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12412) and can be used to repr…

Is the insect apocalypse upon us? How to find out Open

Graham A. Montgomery, Robert R. Dunn, Richard Fox, Eelke Jongejans, Simon R. Leather , et al. · 2019

Genetic structure at national and regional scale in a long-distance dispersing pest organism, the bird cherry–oat aphidRhopalosiphum padi Open

Ramiro Morales‐Hojas, Asier Gonzalez‐Uriarte, Fernando Alvira-Iraizoz, Todd Jenkins, L. J. Alderson , et al. · 2019

Genetic diversity is determinant for pest species’ success and vector competence. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine the genetic diversity is fundamental to help identify the spatial scale at which pest …

Bucking the trend: the diversity of Anthropocene ‘winners’ among British moths Open

Douglas Boyes, Richard Fox, C. R. Shortall, Robert J. Whittaker · 2019

An appreciation of how some species are becoming more common despite unprecedented anthropogenic pressures could offer key insights for mitigating the global biodiversity crisis. Research to date has largely focused on declining species, w…

Long‐term shifts in the seasonal abundance of adult Culicoides biting midges and their impact on potential arbovirus outbreaks Open

C. J. Sanders, C. R. Shortall, Marion England, R. Harrington, Bethan V. Purse , et al. · 2019

Surveillance of adult Culicoides biting midge flight activity is used as an applied ecological method to guide the management of arbovirus incursions on livestock production in Europe and Australia. To date the impact of changes in the phe…

Trends and indicators for quantifying moth abundance and occupancy in Scotland Open

Emily B. Dennis, Tom Brereton, Byron J. T. Morgan, Richard Fox, C. R. Shortall , et al. · 2019

Moths form an important part of Scotland’s biodiversity and an up-to-date assessment of their status is needed given their value as a diverse and species-rich taxon, with various ecosystem roles, and the known decline of moths within Brita…

Ecological traits predict population changes in moths Open

Emma Coulthard, John Norrey, C. R. Shortall, W. E. Harris · 2019

Understanding the ecological traits which predispose species to local or global extinction allows for more effective pre-emptive conservation management interventions. Insect population declines are a major facet of the global biodiversity…

Spatial and habitat variation in aphid, butterfly, moth and bird phenologies over the last half century Open

James R. Bell, Marc S. Botham, Peter A. Henrys, David I. Leech, James W. Pearce‐Higgins , et al. · 2019

Global warming has advanced the timing of biological events, potentially leading to disruption across trophic levels. The potential importance of phenological change as a driver of population trends has been suggested. To fully understand …

Insect population trends and the IUCN Red List process Open

Richard Fox, Colin Harrower, James R. Bell, C. R. Shortall, Ian Middlebrook , et al. · 2018

UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) spittle bug data: 1993-2015 Open

S. Rennie, J. Adamson, Robert F. Anderson, Christopher Andrews, J. Bater , et al. · 2018

Spittle Bug data from the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) terrestrial sites. These data are collected by quadrat sampling at all of ECN's terrestrial sites using a standard protocol . They represent continuous annual records from 199…

UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) woodland vegetation data: 1993-2014 Open