Plate Nº 52 · recorded October 10, 2026
Biology & EvolutionReported finding
Over 80% of Insect Species Live in the Tropics. Science Keeps Missing Them
Monash University researchers say over 80% of insect species live in the tropics, yet conservation data is dominated by temperate countries like the UK. Their fix: museums, local experts and social media.
By Elena Vasquez4 min read730 words
In brief
- More than 80% of insect species live in the tropics, but nearly 26% of insect distribution records in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility come from the UK alone.
- The framework study, led by Dr. Shawan Chowdhury, was published in BioScience on September 9, 2026.
- In Bangladesh, Facebook held records for 167 of 169 threatened butterfly species.
- Of 111 butterfly studies in Bangladesh, only 3 focused specifically on conservation.
- Of 226 Bangladeshi butterfly species evaluated, only one was adequately represented in protected areas.
More than 80 percent of insect species live in the tropics, yet nearly 26 percent of global insect distribution records in the world's largest biodiversity database come from the United Kingdom alone. That stark mismatch, documented by Monash University researchers in the journal BioScience on September 9, 2026, shows how profoundly conservation science is skewed away from the regions that need it most.
The study, led by Dr. Shawan Chowdhury, head of the Global Change Ecology Lab at Monash University's School of Biological Sciences, brings together tropical ecology experts from Australia, Bangladesh, Uganda, Hong Kong, Brazil, Czech Republic, Italy and India. It identifies four major barriers to protecting tropical insects — poor visibility of existing research, severe data gaps, inadequate scientific infrastructure, and too little conservation action — and outlines a practical framework to overcome them.
Why do insects matter so much?
Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth. Scientists estimate there may be between 14 and 30 million insect species, and most have never been formally documented.
Their ecological role is hard to overstate. Insects pollinate more than 80 percent of wild plant species and serve as food for 60 percent of bird species. They also support food webs, nutrient cycling and global food production.
Despite growing evidence that insect populations are declining, most scientific knowledge used for conservation comes from temperate regions — home to only about 20 percent of the world's insect diversity.
"More than 80 percent of insect species occur in the tropics, yet these are the very places where we have some of the biggest gaps in our knowledge," Dr. Chowdhury said. "We cannot effectively conserve species if we don't know what is there, where populations are changing, or even where important existing knowledge can be found."
What does the framework propose?
Rather than simply calling for more fieldwork, the researchers argue that much of the missing information already exists — it is just scattered and overlooked. The framework recommends combining:
- Conventional scientific studies
- Regional and non-English publications
- Museum collections
- Local and indigenous knowledge
- Citizen science observations
- Records shared on social media
- Emerging technologies
"Some of the information we desperately need already exists but it may be in a local journal, held by a regional expert, sitting in a collection, or even contained in photographs shared online," Dr. Chowdhury explained.
The team also stresses building local scientific capacity and making sure evidence actually reaches policymakers who can turn it into conservation decisions.
What does Bangladesh reveal?
The researchers used Bangladesh — one of the world's most densely populated tropical countries — to test how the framework works in practice. The results show both the scale of the problem and unexpected sources of data.
The team found 111 studies on Bangladeshi butterflies. Only 34 had appeared in international journals. Nearly two-thirds focused simply on where species occur, and just three dealt specifically with conservation.
Social media proved surprisingly valuable. Earlier research found that Facebook contained records for 167 of 169 threatened butterfly species in Bangladesh — a striking figure for a country where formal biodiversity databases remain limited.
Yet Bangladesh also shows how urgently data must translate into action. Of 226 butterfly species assessed in previous research, only one was adequately represented within the country's existing protected areas.
"Bangladesh shows that a lack of conventional data does not mean we have to accept a lack of conservation action," Dr. Chowdhury said.
What is "parachute science"?
The researchers also take aim at "parachute science" — a research model in which scientists from wealthy nations drop into tropical countries, collect data, and treat local researchers and communities as mere providers of specimens rather than equal partners.
Their framework calls for the opposite: locally led research, greater investment in regional collections and infrastructure, stronger taxonomic expertise, long-term monitoring, fairer international partnerships and closer ties between scientists and decision-makers.
"If we want global biodiversity targets to mean something, tropical insects cannot remain an afterthought," Dr. Chowdhury said. "The tropics hold most of the world's insect diversity. Protecting that extraordinary diversity is not just an insect conservation issue — it is fundamental to ecosystems, food security and human well-being."
As with any proposed framework, real-world results will depend on funding and political will. But the Bangladesh case suggests that better conservation may start not with new expeditions, but with connecting knowledge that already exists.
via dx.doi.org (Original)
More from Elena Vasquez
Nearby plates
- Insects Keep Vertebrates Alive as Food, Medicine and Home Builders
- Colombia's First National Bee Checklist Counts 738 Species
- Climate, not latitude, drives global plant-pollinator specialization
- Native Nature-Strip Gardens Multiply Urban Insects Sevenfold
- 11,000 Bred Insects Later, New Zealand's Heaviest Bug Is Back