2026/01/15 by Grace L. V. Skinner, Rob Cooke, Helen E. Roy +4 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Forest Insect Ecology and Management #Hemiptera Insect Studies #Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67925-9
openalex publication_date 2026/01/15 · openalex created_date 2026/01/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Insects are crucial to ecosystem functioning but face numerous threats, with invasive alien species likely among the most severe. As insect declines continue, there is a growing need to synthesise evidence on how invasive alien species affect insects, as research has historically focused more on insects as invaders than as victims. Here we conduct a global meta-analysis encompassing 318 effect sizes across 52 studies, assessing invasive alien species impact on terrestrial insect orders (Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Orthoptera), and examining factors influencing these effects. We show that invasive alien species reduce the abundance of insects included in our study by 31%, and species richness by 26%, though these impacts are highly variable across taxa. Stronger negative impacts are found for invasive alien animals compared to invasive alien plants, and for Hemiptera (true bugs) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants) compared to Coleoptera (beetles). These findings provide quantitative estimates for the relative vulnerability of insects to invasive alien species, which is an important step towards halting declines.