What’s buzzing through the skies?

The MoveInEurope project aims to quantify the spatiotemporal variability in aerial insect activity, abundance, and biomass, as well as migratory movement patterns of insects during the growing season (from March-October) from southwest to northeast Europe over five years (2021-2025). We also explore the relationships of daily and seasonal insect activity, abundance, biomass, and migratory movement patterns with environmental and anthropogenic factors, and the links to those of insectivorous birds.

Vertical-looking radars can quantify aerial insect biomass flux and movements. Due to the experimental nature and low numbers of radars, geographical coverage has, however, typically been limited. The Birdscan MR1 radar is a commercial vertical-looking radar developed in collaboration with the Swiss Ornithological Institute that can simultaneously detect insects and birds. Several research groups and private companies across Europe already own a Birdscan MR1 radar, resulting in an extensive network across Europe. We tap into the potential of this network to study insect activity and movement across Europe.

Each day, throughout the growing season, massive amounts of insects take to the skies. Quantifying their numbers and movements across large-scales and understanding the drivers of (changes in) their spatiotemporal distribution is not only key to insect biodiversity conservation, but also to the populations of insectivorous birds higher up to food chain. Their movements furthermore provide valuable ecosystem services, such as pollination, as well as disservices, such as agricultural damage, that are relevant to human agriculture, economy and health.

Thesis projects:

• 2024: Fabienne Selinger. MSc thesis: “Linking the occurrence of insectivorous birds to the abundance of aerial insects”. BOKU Vienna, Austria.
• 2023: Maren Lebender. BSc thesis: “Visualizing large-scale insect migration directions over Europe”. ETH Zürich, Switzerland

• Swiss BirdRadar Solution AG, Switzerland
• Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics – University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Judy Shamoun-Baranes, Johannes de Groeve
• Lund University, Sweden: Susanne Åkesson, Giuseppe Bianco
• Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland: Nadja Weisshaupt, Matti Leskinen
• University of Exeter, UK: Jason Chapman
• Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Varese, Italy; Fondazione di Bolle di Magadino, Switzerland: Damiano G. Preatoni
• Leipzig University: Heike Kalesse-Los
• Leipzig University: Moritz Lochmann
• Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL: Silke Bauer