Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42839618›Full record

ArticleGlobal change biology2026

Cinderella Biodiversity: Three Decades of Monitoring Reveal Earlier Emergence and Increasing Abundance in Undervalued and Sparsely Recorded Flying Insects and Ballooning Spiders.

Yoann Bourhis, Alice E Milne, Chris R Shortall, Matt Hampson, Dan Blumgart, William E Kunin, James R Bell

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Global change biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yoann BourhisRothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9365-9597
Alice E MilneRothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4509-0578
Chris R ShortallRothamsted Insect Survey, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7175-5393
Matt HampsonRothamsted Insect Survey, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0462-4598
Dan BlumgartRothamsted Insect Survey, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2591-7686
William E KuninSchool of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9812-2326
James R BellRothamsted Insect Survey, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1640-6120

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBS/E/C/000J0200Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBS/E/RH/23NB0006Natural Environment Research Council NE/V00686X/1Natural Environment Research Council NE/V006916/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Arthropod declines have been reported widely, and yet the spotlight has fallen on relatively large, colourful insects, rarely considering the abundant, small-sized, yet charismatic flying insects and ballooning spiders we class as neglected and undervalued 'Cinderella species'. This diverse set of arthropods contributes important ecosystem services, such as decomposition, pollination, pest regulation and nutrient cycling. We sampled a 30 year long archived arthropod collection, preserved in ethanol from the daily 12.2 m suction-trap catches at four sites in the UK, to provide new data on more than 600,000 previously unidentified insects and spiders. Group or family-level trends for the Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (true flies), Hemiptera (true bugs) and Hymenoptera (bees, ants and wasps) as well as trends for seemingly less well-known orders including the Psocoptera (barkflies), Dermaptera (earwigs) and Araneae (spiders) are provided. Our aim is to produce 30 year explainable trends in abundance and phenology for 71 Cinderella arthropod groups, and explore their functional trophic guild and habitat use during the immature stage. We trained random forest models to predict log abundance and phenology (Day of 5% catch) using a set of landscape, topography, weather-related drivers. We show that the majority of arthropod taxa, as well as most trophic and habitat-use groups, report either stable or increasing abundances, and stable or earlier phenologies. We also found that across taxa, earlier phenologies (54%-70% of taxa) and more abundant catches (55%-77%) are significantly related. These trends are mostly explained by temperature-related drivers and secondarily by landcover, of which the strongest signal is improved grassland. Our study establishes a quantitative baseline for an undervalued, forgotten and often sparsely recorded segment of Britain's biodiversity.

Indexed as

BiodiversityInsectaSpidersAnimalsPopulation DynamicsUnited Kingdomflying insectsinsect declinelarval habitatrandom forestspiderstrophic guilds

Identifiers

PMID42839618
PMCPMC13643034

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.