An insect- and EO-based indicator reveals microhabitat-driven biodiversity intactness across Africa

An insect- and EO-based indicator reveals microhabitat-driven biodiversity intactness across Africa | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article An insect- and EO-based indicator reveals microhabitat-driven biodiversity intactness across Africa Tobias Landmann, Vincent Magomere, Komi Agboka This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7753989/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Global biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates, yet most monitoring indicators remain vertebrate-centric. Here, we introduce an insect-based biodiversity intactness (IBI) indicator, demonstrated across Africa, that integrates large-scale insect occurrence records with Earth Observation data and a pre-human baseline of potential insect diversity. The IBI reveals gradients of ecosystem intactness across all major African agro-ecological zones and detects sensitivity to land-use mosaics such as agroforestry. Unlike vertebrate-based indices, it captures fine-scale ecological variation and reflects the importance of residual vegetation within agro-ecological systems. Block-based cross-validation provides transparent uncertainty estimates, enabling the IBI to scale from local assessments to continental monitoring. Beyond the African case study, the framework is globally transferable, offering a standardized insect-based measure for biodiversity monitoring and policy reporting under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Biodiversity Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files MSTLandmannetalInsectBiodiversitySupplemMaterials.docx Supplementary materials Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7753989","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":556464837,"identity":"b62435bb-091f-4a70-b7a6-1f63d052cb48","order_by":0,"name":"Tobias Landmann","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA10lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdiDmATMaGxgSiNHBwwzTwnOQZC0SRKkHAntm5mcP3ubY5ZlLPm788HCHDQO/9PELBGxhMzecuy252HJ2YrNE4pk0Bsm+nAJCDjOT5t3GnLjhdmIbQ2LbYQaDMzz4ncjDzP4NqKU+ccPNgyAt/4nRwgOy5XDihhuMIC0HgFrYD+DXcpinTHLutuOJG86A/ZLMI9nDg1cHA3t7+zaJt9uqEzccP/7w488ddnL8POwP8OtBAYwNoDjiMSBNC8hmUmwZBaNgFIyCEQAA3HNDyMU+UnAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6512-5806","institution":"International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tobias","middleName":"","lastName":"Landmann","suffix":""},{"id":556464838,"identity":"506236af-c047-4f03-a1cb-6e8912603942","order_by":1,"name":"Vincent Magomere","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vincent","middleName":"","lastName":"Magomere","suffix":""},{"id":556464839,"identity":"370ced4a-1ea0-4fcc-9078-71f3b42f0c5a","order_by":2,"name":"Komi Agboka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Komi","middleName":"","lastName":"Agboka","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-30 17:45:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7753989/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7753989/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98422458,"identity":"6ec3a1b3-b3a4-460f-9438-acd0b4eb06e6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-17 16:31:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1134250,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MSTLandmannetalInsectBiodiversity.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7753989/v1_covered_35bfa519-cf02-4038-ac8c-1027ef84bbce.pdf"},{"id":97951823,"identity":"f4d6e390-1b34-4ec7-a785-82a363c8b528","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-11 07:13:42","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":615644,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary materials","description":"","filename":"MSTLandmannetalInsectBiodiversitySupplemMaterials.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7753989/v1/022121274b38b03931f1f50f.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"An insect- and EO-based indicator reveals microhabitat-driven biodiversity intactness across Africa","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"commssustain","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"commssustain","sideBox":"Learn more about [Communications Sustainability](https://www.nature.com/commssustain/)","snPcode":"44458","submissionUrl":"https://mts-commssustain.nature.com","title":"Communications Sustainability","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7753989/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7753989/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eGlobal biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates, yet most monitoring indicators remain vertebrate-centric. 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