Insects as indicators of Key Biodiversity Areas

1. Global change is affecting insect populations worldwide as species declines have been reported from different areas of the planet.2. Novel approaches such as the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) could detect areas of high biodiversity value for insect populations. The KBA approach relies on standardised criteria to identify important sites for biodiversity persistence. The application of such criteria to large numbers of species would significantly accelerate the KBA mapping process.3. A systematic application of KBA criteria has not been tested on insects, and very little is known about the efficiency and limits of such methodology.4. We applied four KBA criteria in Italy to 28 species/subspecies of bumblebees and identified potential KBAs for one species and three subspecies. Potential KBAs are only partially nested within current Italian KBAs and the protected areas network. When compared with potential KBAs of vertebrate species identified with the same methodology, the degree of nesting is only 12%.5. Our results provide evidence of a tendency of the KBA network to expand as more species are assessed, raising questions about the ability of the criteria to detect areas that truly are key for biodiversity and not just for specific taxa. We also highlight issues regarding the use of KBA criteria on insects, such as data availability and the use of subspecies. Further large-scale assessments of KBAs will reveal the true potential of application of the KBA approach for insect conservation, and whether it actually may slow down the loss of important units of their extraordinary diversity.