Summarising "Garden and Landscape-Scale Correlates of Moths of Differing Conservation Status: Significant Effects of Urbanization and Habitat Diversity"

Today, I'll be summarising this article, "Garden and Landscape-Scale Correlates of Moths of Differing Conservation Status: Significant Effects of Urbanization and Habitat Diversity". I have talked about UK and their citizen scientist programmes, and this is a research done by one such programme.

Source: http://www.kentbutterflies.org/kentmoths/images/gmslogo.gif

This paper is based on data collected by the Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) in 2010 to find out which garden habitat and landscape-scale features most strongly influences the number of species and population number of moths, and whether the changes in habitat changes the population of moth species. The data is collected using moth light traps by 314 participants in this programme, in order to draw the link between moths and habitats. 

While we think the most common species are the ones that needs least protection and consideration, these are the species that plays the largest role in supporting the ecosystem. According to the research, the common species are decreasing in numbers. Think about it: common moths are important pollinators and prey for birds and insects. What will happen if these moths start to decline in number? Can you see how decrease of one species will tip the balance of the entire ecosystem? That is the fragility of the natural environment, and that is why we need to work towards conservation. 

A nocturnal pollinator
http://38.media.tumblr.com/819f00c36265b90b60d704eeb88ab885/tumblr_miy8ufLTP31rc05ifo1_400.gif

The research showed that intensification of agriculture and urbanisation results in habitat fragmentation, habitat loss, light pollution and chemical pollution, except for small species that seem to thrive in urban environment. The larger the habitat, the higher the number of moths per unit area. 

Singapore is currently FIRST in urbanisation, with 100% of the population living in urban areas and urbanising at a rate of 1.2%. It is therefore crucial that we conserve what we have left of natural habitats and put in effort to protect every species, yes, even moths! 

Since I've mentioned light pollution as one of the reason as to why moth population might be decreasing, I'll talk about light pollution in my next post! 

Sources: 

Bates, A., Sadler, J., Grundy, D., Lowe, N., Davis, G., & Baker, D. et al. (2014). Garden and Landscape-Scale Correlates of Moths of Differing Conservation Status: Significant Effects of Urbanization and Habitat Diversity. Plos ONE, 9(1), e86925. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086925