[gmjoe]

Key paragraphs:

> The food web appears to have been obliterated from the bottom. It’s credible that the authors link the cascade to arthropod loss, Schowalter said, because “you have all these different taxa showing the same trends — the insectivorous birds, frogs and lizards — but you don’t see those among seed-feeding birds.”

> Lister and Garcia attribute this crash to climate. In the same 40-year period as the arthropod crash, the average high temperature in the rain forest increased by 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures in the tropics stick to a narrow band. The invertebrates that live there, likewise, are adapted to these temperatures and fare poorly outside them; bugs cannot regulate their internal heat.

[smackay]

Seed-eating birds spend a lot of time gathering insects to feed their young. I presume also seed plants are dependent on pollinators. Certainly this is just an armchair comment but I would have expected the effect to show up across the board.

[ocschwar]

The reason it isn't is that this study is based in Puerto Rico, where the bugs don't have the option of migrating north. In the US mainland, yes, this is happening, and it's harming insects, but the main result is migration, not extinction.