Citizen science suggests decreased diversity of insects in Mexico, a megadiverse country
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2025.96.5720Keywords:
Butterflies, Bumblebees, Damselflies, Dragonflies, iNaturalistAbstract
An analysis of iNaturalist data on several taxonomic groups of insects in Mexico is presented. A decreasing trend was observed in species diversity per year for 4 families of butterflies, bumblebees, and dragonflies and damselflies. Analyses were performed on several potential vegetation types (sensu Rzedowsky), and the roles of deforestation and pesticide use on the identified trends were explored. Challenges in using unsystematic data to estimate trends are discussed, and several hypotheses are provided to explain the results.
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