Global meta-analysis reveals overall higher nocturnal than diurnal activity in insect communities

Abstract

Insects sustain key ecosystem functions, but how their activity varies across the day–night cycle and the underlying drivers are poorly understood. Although entomologists generally expect that more insects are active at night, this notion has not been tested with empirical data at the global scale. Here, we assemble 331 quantitative comparisons of the abundances of insects between day and night periods from 78 studies worldwide and use multi-level meta-analytical models to show that insect activity is on average 31.4% (CI: −6.3%–84.3%) higher at night than in the day. We reveal diel preferences of major insect taxa, and observe higher nocturnal activity in aquatic taxa than in terrestrial ones, as well as in warmer environments. In a separate analysis of the small subset of studies quantifying diel patterns in taxonomic richness (31 comparisons from 13 studies), we detect preliminary evidence of higher nocturnal richness in tropical than temperate communities. The higher overall (but variable) nocturnal activity in insect communities underscores the need to address threats such as light pollution and climate warming that may disproportionately impact nocturnal insects.

Entomologists expect that more insects are active at night than during daytime. Here, the authors use a global meta-analysis of insect community diel patterns to show highly variable and context-dependent but overall higher nocturnal activity of insects.