Rationale
To sustain landscapes, understand local benefits from natural resources, assess and mitigate impacts from development, evaluate and monitor risks from invasives (biosecurity), disseminate and synthesize biodiversity data, and evaluate climate change, it is essential to take a much closer look at the group comprising the bulk of Earth’s biodiversity: insects. Insects regulate biological processes across landscapes. They are essential ecosystem engineers. They aerate, move, and enrich soils, transform the dead into building blocks for new life, pollinate our crops, and hold the life webs of entire ecosystems together. Yet past and current conservation efforts have largely ignored arthropods. This is because land managers and policymakers are often unaware of the ecological importance of these organisms how they can inform conservation decisions. At the same time, insect specialists have lacked the organizational structure and collaborative networks to voice the role of insects in conservation, to focus their efforts on end users and contemporary issues, and to move beyond species conservation to sustaining ecosystem services and benefits.
Given the ecological and socio economic state of this biologically important region of the world, we cannot afford to ignore such a huge proportion of biodiversity any longer. Insects can and should play a vital role in assessing and monitoring ecosystem values and services, and decisions about which habitats require intensive conservation management.
By continuing to exclude insects, we at best risk overlooking processes essential to sustaining landscapes and corridors, and at worst risk inadvertently promote ecological meltdowns. By continuing to work independently and not collectively focused on the current sustainability crisis, insect researchers will not have an impact on the future of the Malagasy region. Instead, what if our efforts were not distributed thinly across the region on individually chosen insects but focused on a strategic set of insects and problems with direct conservation outcomes.
IPSIO aims to establish insects as tool for conservation planning, monitoring restoration and climate change analyses. We will invest in networking, training, and tools for select keystone indicator groups to harness and focus existing ambitions, expertise and data. IPSIO establishes a regional voice for insect conservation and will develop conservation actions focused on maintaining the critical ecosystem services that insects such as ants, bees, dragonflies, and butterflies provide.
Given the ecological and socio economic state of this biologically important region of the world, we cannot afford to ignore such a huge proportion of biodiversity any longer. Insects can and should play a vital role in assessing and monitoring ecosystem values and services, and decisions about which habitats require intensive conservation management.
By continuing to exclude insects, we at best risk overlooking processes essential to sustaining landscapes and corridors, and at worst risk inadvertently promote ecological meltdowns. By continuing to work independently and not collectively focused on the current sustainability crisis, insect researchers will not have an impact on the future of the Malagasy region. Instead, what if our efforts were not distributed thinly across the region on individually chosen insects but focused on a strategic set of insects and problems with direct conservation outcomes.
IPSIO aims to establish insects as tool for conservation planning, monitoring restoration and climate change analyses. We will invest in networking, training, and tools for select keystone indicator groups to harness and focus existing ambitions, expertise and data. IPSIO establishes a regional voice for insect conservation and will develop conservation actions focused on maintaining the critical ecosystem services that insects such as ants, bees, dragonflies, and butterflies provide.
Approach
Insects and People of the Southwest Indian Ocean (IPSIO) is a network of interdisciplinary insect researchers and organizations in the region. IPSIO will provide information, tools, and expert analysis to enable insect data to be used directly in local and regional conservation and restoration planning efforts. CAS Madagascar at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center will serve as the home for the network in Madagascar. Over the past 15 years, scientists from CAS and MBC have conducted arthropod surveys at over 350 sites across all island systems in the Southwest Indian Ocean and have worked directly with most partners of IPSIO.
The IPSIO network consists of key experts in regional insect diagnostics, ecosystem function, biosecurity, and food. The network will conduct outreach, research and create working groups that will focus scientific efforts to address knowledge gaps in contemporary issues such as the role of insects in forest management and restoration, and methodologies to monitor invasive insects and insect ecosystem services at the landscape scale. Members include regional NGOs government agencies, and local and international technical experts. IPSIO will provide local conservation decision makers with science based strategies and tools as well as channels for promoting the importance of insects in ecosystem management. It will serve the varied roles of central information clearinghouse, source for technical expertise, and advocacy group.
The IPSIO network consists of key experts in regional insect diagnostics, ecosystem function, biosecurity, and food. The network will conduct outreach, research and create working groups that will focus scientific efforts to address knowledge gaps in contemporary issues such as the role of insects in forest management and restoration, and methodologies to monitor invasive insects and insect ecosystem services at the landscape scale. Members include regional NGOs government agencies, and local and international technical experts. IPSIO will provide local conservation decision makers with science based strategies and tools as well as channels for promoting the importance of insects in ecosystem management. It will serve the varied roles of central information clearinghouse, source for technical expertise, and advocacy group.
The principal activities
(1) Establish IPSIO as an interdisciplinary research and coordination network that focuses individual efforts for greater impact and visibility that serves the contemporary needs of local NGOs. IPSIO will help ensure that insects are considered in conservation assessments and land management decisions, and to educate the biodiversity sector about the benefits of including insects in environmental monitoring. IPSIO will use collaboration to changes ambitions and direction in the field of Entomology. IPSIO will move individual efforts to a collaborative model and show how members can do something bigger and better working together.
(2) Activities of the network will center around working groups that address major knowledge gaps. Possible working groups include: (ibio) Evaluating and developing a strategic set of insect groups (e.g. ants, butterflies, dragonflies, termites, and pollinators) as bioindicators to deploy as tools for monitoring and IN; (isocio) Communicating the socio ecological benefits from insect driven ecosystem services; (ifood) The importance of Insects as food; and (itour) Evaluate the potential of insects in tourism.
(2) Activities of the network will center around working groups that address major knowledge gaps. Possible working groups include: (ibio) Evaluating and developing a strategic set of insect groups (e.g. ants, butterflies, dragonflies, termites, and pollinators) as bioindicators to deploy as tools for monitoring and IN; (isocio) Communicating the socio ecological benefits from insect driven ecosystem services; (ifood) The importance of Insects as food; and (itour) Evaluate the potential of insects in tourism.
