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Lost and found: 160 years of Lepidoptera observations in Wuppertal (Germany)

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Abstract

In the light of the current discussion on reduced insect biomass and species decline, we would like to draw attention to the work of amateur entomologists who have been observing the moth and butterfly fauna for decades. Actually, the recording of butterflies and moths has a long tradition in Wuppertal and its surroundings (Germany, North Rhine-Westfalia, Bergisches Land). Therefore, we have access to rather detailed data of the local macrolepidoptera fauna collected over the last 160 years and are able to comment on the trends of moth and butterfly populations during this rather long period. We review historical and current data and provide a comprehensive abundance list of all macrolepidoptera species observed in the study region. We found that, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, the species richness of butterfly and moths species decreased considerably. In terms of the number of species evaluated (537), we see that 27% decreased within the last 160 years while 15% have already been lost. Additionally, 24% are apparently stable at a low level. Particularly affected are highly specialised species of heath, moor, grassland, scrub, coppice and orchard habitats. However, 15% of the evaluated species are observed more frequently. Some of these newly colonised the study region (2.4%). Since Wuppertal is a city that profited from the industrial revolution from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, we think that our results could serve as a representative example of the loss of species richness due to industrialisation, urbanisation, intensive agriculture and forestry.

Implications for insect conservation

If we intend to increase species richness of butterflies and moths again, the focus must be on protecting, restoring and promoting low-nutrient open landscape habitats rather than forests.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the many amateur entomologists who joined us and delivered data in recent years. In particular, we would also like to thank the editors and the reviewers for their many helpful comments and suggestions, which contributed significantly to the improvement of the manuscript.

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TL formulated the idea to correlate historical and actual observations. TL and AR reviewed historical data and wrote the manuscript. AD and AR did most of the fieldwork. TL performed data evaluation. AD cared for the database, carried out data quality assurance, extracted the data for the study region and collected recent data from other observers.

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Correspondence to Tim Laussmann.

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Laussmann, T., Dahl, A. & Radtke, A. Lost and found: 160 years of Lepidoptera observations in Wuppertal (Germany). J Insect Conserv 25, 273–285 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-021-00296-w

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