The big buzz: Characterizing long-term insect dynamics and insect population response to anthropogenic pressure using sedimentary DNA

Rapidly diminishing insect populations since the 1990s have made researchers believe that insects are subjected to a global mass extinction event.

Anthropogenic stressors relating to land-use, such as pesticides and habitat fragmentation, have been suggested as main drivers of this rapid decline.

However, we lack long-term monitoring programs for most invertebrates, making it difficult to evaluated these hypotheses.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a novel tool for biodiversity monitoring and can provide hitherto unavailable data on past species dynamics.

In this postdoctoral project, I will use eDNA from lake systems to: i) reconstruct changes in insect diversity across the last millennia in Europe; ii) refine DNA-based biodiversity assessments from soils, lake water, and surface sediments. I will combine sediment DNA extractions covering several thousand years with contemporary environmental analyses.

The reconstructed historical record of insect biodiversity will be validated against one of few decadal monitoring series from Germany.

I expect to deliver the first reconstruction of insect diversity changes during the last millennia to advance our theories about drivers behind rapidly diminishing insect communities.

This mobility grant will allow me to work at the forefront of an emerging scientific field, expand my skills in eDNA analyses, and create a network of collaborators in Europe and the US to develop an independent, competitive academic profile.