Tracking the Response of Arthropod Communities to Changing Environments (TRACE)

Over five years TRACE documented arthropod diversity and biomass across ecoregions and driver gradients.The aim of this project was first to demonstrate that DNA barcoding enables rapid, low-cost evaluations of the species composition of arthropod communities on an ecoregion scale. Second, it aimed to quantify patterns of variation in arthropod biomass on a large geographic scale to examine the factors underlying their dramatic reductions in abundance over the last 25 years. Third, it evaluated the role of agriculture, forestry, and urbanization as drivers of shifts in arthropod biomass and diversity.