Scientists are calling on motorists to participate in a large study to better understand the troubling decline of insects. A small gesture that serves science well. By recording the amount of midges, wasps, or moths on their license plate, every French driver can take part in a vast study launched on Monday, April 13th, to better understand the worrying decline of these small animals.
“It’s a few seconds at the beginning of a journey, a few seconds at the end of the journey,” promises Grégoire Loës, deputy director of the Vigie-Nature participatory science program at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN).
Participants must use the “Bugs matter” application, clean their license plate before the journey, and then take a photo upon arrival. With the help of artificial intelligence, the application will count the number of impacts of flying insects on the plate. “We have the opportunity to do a massive sampling. (…) The idea is to have thousands and thousands of participants covering millions of kilometers,” explains the scientist.
Context: The study is co-organized in France by MNHN, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), and associations including the Office for Insects and their Environment (Opie) and Noé.
The scientists chose the license plate rather than the windshield because it is of identical size on each vehicle and allows for comparable data. These data could feed into scientific articles, enabling researchers to document and better understand the decline of insect populations, due to intensive agriculture (especially because of pesticide use) as well as pollution or climate change.
In 2017, a study published in the journal PLOS One, focusing on protected natural areas in Germany, concluded a collapse of over 75% of insect biomass in 27 years.
Context: Insects play a crucial role in ecosystems, pollinating crops, aiding plant reproduction, feeding other animals, recycling organic matter, and controlling crop pests.
Vigie-Nature, with 120,000 participants, has already launched several participatory observatories aimed at naturalists, the general public, and professionals, focusing on various aspects of biodiversity monitoring.
