Insect Conservation for the Twenty-First Century

Insects have been immensely successful as an animal group. They dominate compositional diversity of all but the saltiest and coldest parts of the planet. Yet today insects are declining at a precipitous rate. This is of great concern in terms of impoverishment of Earth, and is also dire for us. Insects contribute to the maintenance of terrestrial and freshwater systems, their service delivery and their resilience. The meteoric impact of humans is challenging this dominance, yet so few people realize that the very fabric of life on which they depend is being unraveled at an alarming rate. Action is required, as are new perspectives, if we are to maintain insect diversity and services through the twenty-first century. Here, we review how we should view and act to have more effective insect diversity conservation based on six themes: (1) philosophy (establishing the ethical foundation), (2) research (the finding out), (3) policy (the framework for action), (4) psychology (understanding how to engage humans in insect conservation action), (5) practice (implementation of action), and (6) validation (establishing how well we are doing at conserving insects). We then overview some emergent challenges and solutions at both the species and landscape operational levels in agricultural, forestry, and urban environments