A new approach to analysing museum specimens has revealed a massive decline in Fiji's native ant species since the arrival of humans to the islands, a has found.
According to the international team of researchers, including senior author Professor Alexander Mikheyev from 小蓝视频 (小蓝视频), the study highlights the unseen effects of insect biodiversity loss.
鈥淕lobal conservation efforts often focus on larger, more photogenic animals, and on easier to monitor areas, like temperate habitats,鈥 he said.
鈥淗owever, ants are part of 鈥榣ittle things that run the world鈥 and are critical for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Studies like this one are an important step in identifying the reasons behind the so-called insect apocalypse 鈥 the widespread disappearance of insect diversity and abundance seen in many parts of the world.鈥
While it is traditionally difficult to track historic population trends from data collected in the present day, the team found a way around this across many species by studying small fragments of DNA from museum collections.
鈥淚t can be difficult to estimate historical changes to insect populations, because with few exceptions, we haven鈥檛 been directly monitoring populations over time,鈥 fellow senior author Professor Evan Economo, from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of Maryland said.
鈥淲e took a new approach to this problem by analysing the genomes of many species in parallel from museum specimens collected recently. The genomes hold evidence of whether populations are growing or shrinking, allowing us to reconstruct community-wide changes.
鈥淲e found 79 per cent of ant species native to Fiji have experienced a decline in population, while introduced species are exploding in numbers.鈥
Professor Mikheyev said the museum collections built across decades of fieldwork were vital to the study, despite the difficulty in utilising historic DNA, which degrades over time.
鈥淎s our scientific toolbox expands, we are able to capture more information from biodiversity collections, so it鈥檚 essential that we continue investing in and maintaining these vital resources,鈥 he said.
According to the study鈥檚 authors, while islands are hotspots of biodiversity, many island species have evolved traits that make them more sensitive to environmental changes.
鈥淏eing closed, isolated ecosystems, islands are expected to feel the effects of human impact faster, so they are kind of a canary in the coal mine,鈥 senior author Dr Cong Liu from OIST said.
鈥淢ost recorded animal extinctions have historically been from island groups.鈥
While the Fijian archipelago provided a useful setting to study these effects, the researchers believe their results could be a sign of more global trends.
The study is published in .
