The future of tropical insect diversity: strategies to fill data and knowledge gaps

The decline of insect diversity is a much-discussed, yet understudied phenomenon, particularly in the tropics, where the majority of insect abundance, diversity and biomass is found. Integrated approaches involving traditional taxonomic methods, new molecular approaches, and novel monitoring and identification tools and applications are needed to address related and challenging questions regarding how many species of tropical insects exist, their distributions and natural history, the relative impacts of global change drivers on insect diversity across complex tropical landscapes, and the effects of insect declines on ecosystem functions and services. The main barriers to addressing these challenges are a lack of capacity and funding for research on insects in tropical countries and a lack of recognition of their importance for ecosystem functioning and human wellbeing. Insects must be brought into policy agendas, local capacity and funding through cross-boundary collaborations and equitable scientific practices increased, and their importance emphasized.