Hanot, C. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

AnthropInsect: a global database of insect traits and anthropogenic associations.

Insect research remains hindered by limited data availability and fragmented knowledge compared to other, better-documented taxonomic groups. Yet, both the macroecological and the insect research communities highlight the need to integrate large-scale ecological trait datasets for insects. Insects and humans are interconnected through diverse relationships, ranging from beneficial interactions, such as the use of insects as nutritional resources, to adverse impacts, including their role in to the emergence and spread of biological invasions. Understanding the traits of insects associated with human use, movement and impact is therefore important for linking insects to ecosystem function and global change. We present AnthropInsect, one of the largest database on insect traits to date, which uniquely includes variables describing human-insect associations. AnthropInsect describes species through 35 variables grouped into five categories: (i) taxonomic descriptors; (ii) ecological descriptors (native bioregions and habitat); (iii) human-insect associations (edibility and invasive status); (iv) functional traits (behavior, morphology, life history and feeding); (v) and macroecological descriptors of native-range geography and climate. AnthropInsect currently includes 5867 species across six major orders: Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera and Blattodea. Data extracted from peer-reviewed, grey literature and from existing databases were standardized and validated with expert knowledge to ensure accuracy. By providing traits data with information on insect-human interactions, this rigorously curated resource supports global research in entomology, ecology, conservation, and global change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Do macroinvertebrate abundance and community structure depend on the quality of ponds located in peri-urban areas?

Contamination is one of the major threats to freshwater biodiversity. Compared to other aquatic ecosystems, peri-urban ponds are unique because they are embedded in human-dominated areas. However, it is poorly understood how different land uses such as urban or agricultural contribute multiple pollutants to ponds and thus affect pond biodiversity. In this work, 12 ponds located in a peri-urban area (Ile-de-France region, France) were monitored for 2 consecutive years in spring and fall. We surveyed macroinvertebrates and measured the physicochemical parameters and contaminants of different classes (trace elements, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in both water and sediment. The objective was twofold: (1) to explore local and regional macroinvertebrate spatiotemporal diversity and (2) to understand the effects of contaminants on community structure. We observed 236 macroinvertebrate morphotaxa, none of which were rare or sensitive to pollutants. Morphotaxa richness showed small differences between ponds but no difference between there was no effect of field campaign. There was no effect of ponds and field campaign on morphotaxa diversity and equitability. We did not observe a relationship between land use around the pond (agricultural, urban, or semi-natural) and diversity indices with the exception of the proportion of agricultural land in the vicinity of the pond on equitability. Regional beta diversity (between ponds) showed that differences in morphotaxa composition reflected species replacement more than differences in species richness; these were primarily due to the high abundance of pollutant-tolerant species in some of the ponds. The effects of environmental parameters on community structure were studied using partial redundancy analysis based on the presence-absence of morphotaxa, showing that community assemblages are shaped by sediment levels of pharmaceuticals, water conductivity and ammonium concentration. In conclusion, ponds in peri-urban areas are exposed to various human activities, with our results suggesting that this exposure leads to chronic and diverse contaminations that affect morphotaxa communities.

ecology↗