Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines

Recent declines in arthropod diversity, abundance and biomass are central to the global biodiversity crisis. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of the respective contributions of species richness, species identity and abundance to overall biomass change, and how the environment filters these processes. Synthesizing 11 years of data from a biodiversity experiment and from farmed grasslands in central Europe across a gradient of plant species richness and land-use intensity, we show that local arthropod biomass declines were predominantly (>90%) linked to species richness losses. Abundance declines among persisting species accounted for only 5-8% of lost biomass. The role of species identity depended on the environment and diminished over time: especially under high plant diversity and low land-use intensity, arthropod species with both below-average total biomass and above-average individual biomass (large, rare species) contributed disproportionately to species turnover-but this was only detectable in early years when the communities were still relatively abundant. We conclude that arthropod communities are currently homogenizing towards few common species of similar biomass, probably reducing their adaptability to future environmental change. Increasing the diversity and reducing the land-use intensity of grasslands may mitigate ongoing community simplification and loss of arthropod diversity and functioning.

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Journal
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Published
2025-12-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02909-y
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines

Lionel R. Hertzog, Michael Staab, Rafael Achury, Emma Ladouceur et al.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
article

Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines

Lionel R. Hertzog, Michael Staab, Rafael Achury, Emma Ladouceur, Jes Hines, Christiane Roscher, Oliver Schweiger, Benjamin Wildermuth, Maximilian Bröcher, Sebastian T. Meyer, Holger Schielzeth, Anne Ebeling, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Nico Blüthgen
article en

Abstract

Recent declines in arthropod diversity, abundance and biomass are central to the global biodiversity crisis. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of the respective contributions of species richness, species identity and abundance to overall biomass change, and how the environment filters these processes. Synthesizing 11 years of data from a biodiversity experiment and from farmed grasslands in central Europe across a gradient of plant species richness and land-use intensity, we show that local arthropod biomass declines were predominantly (>90%) linked to species richness losses. Abundance declines among persisting species accounted for only 5-8% of lost biomass. The role of species identity depended on the environment and diminished over time: especially under high plant diversity and low land-use intensity, arthropod species with both below-average total biomass and above-average individual biomass (large, rare species) contributed disproportionately to species turnover-but this was only detectable in early years when the communities were still relatively abundant. We conclude that arthropod communities are currently homogenizing towards few common species of similar biomass, probably reducing their adaptability to future environmental change. Increasing the diversity and reducing the land-use intensity of grasslands may mitigate ongoing community simplification and loss of arthropod diversity and functioning.

Nature Ecology & EvolutionVol. 10(1)
Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Prince Edward Island (CA), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE), Biodiversity Research Institute (US), Laboratoire Navier (FR), Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (DE), Université Gustave Eiffel (FR), Technical University of Munich (DE), Université de Lorraine (FR), Leipzig University (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 64%
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
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