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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.07.01.662623

Citizen science suggests decreased diversity of insects in Mexico, a megadiverse country.

Soberon, J. L.
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Abstract

An analysis of iNaturalist data on several taxonomic groups of insects in Mexico is presented. I found evidence of a decreasing trend in diversity of species per year, for four families of butterflies, the bumblebees and the dragon and damselflies. I performed the anlayses on several of the Potential Vegetation types of J. Rzedowsky, and explore the role of deforestation and pesticide use on the trends I found. I discuss the challenges of using unsystematic data to estimate trends and provide several hypotheses to explain them.

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Soberon, J. L.. 2025-07-05. Citizen science suggests decreased diversity of insects in Mexico, a megadiverse country.. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.01.662623

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