The Clockwork of Insect Activity: Advancing Ecological Understanding through Automation

Understanding insect behaviour and its underlying drivers is vital for interpreting changes in local biodiversity and predicting future trends. Traditional insect traps are typically limited to the assessment of local insect community composition over extended periods, providing limited insights into the impact of abiotic factors such as light on species activity. Achieving finer temporal resolution is labour-intensive or feasible only under laboratory conditions. Here, we demonstrate how automating a Malaise trap enhances our understanding of the influence of time of day on insect activity patterns and, consequently, the associated ecology of various taxa. Our findings reveal significant differences in insect activity patterns across taxonomic ranks, shedding light on potential yet undescribed parasitoid-host relationships and further reciprocal interactions between taxonomic groups. Within taxonomic groups, we observe variations in both the timing and duration of activity patterns, providing insights into differences in mating strategies among closely related species. By capturing circadian rhythms of insect activity through time-controlled bulk sampling, we can expand our knowledge of species ecology and temporal interactions. This contributes significantly to the advancement of chronoecology, allowing for further exploration of the roles of species and benefits in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems, alongside their potentially significant threat.