Forests Webinar | Insect Biodiversity in a Changing World, 10 March 2025

A message from the webinar chair:
Insects play a fundamental role in ecosystems, contributing to pollination, decomposition, and food webs. Their diversity and abundance make them excellent indicators of environmental change, yet they remain underappreciated in conservation and ecological monitoring.

This webinar seeks to deepen our understanding of insect altitudinal distribution—a critical aspect of terrestrial biodiversity—in tropical and subtropical habitats. Understanding these distribution patterns is essential for assessing biodiversity dynamics, ecosystem processes, and the potential impacts of climate change, ultimately informing more effective conservation strategies.

For this webinar, we are honored to have two leading experts from the field of insect ecology—Prof. Roger Kitching from Griffith University and Dr. Yves Basset from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. These talks will explore the challenges and opportunities in insect monitoring, highlighting the significance of insects in tracking ecological change. We invite you to engage in the discussion and gain valuable insights from our esteemed speakers.

Prof. Kitching, a distinguished rainforest ecologist, has pioneered the use of moths as bioindicators, contributing to our understanding of ecosystem dynamics across Australia, China, France, and Réunion. His extensive research has earned him numerous accolades, including the Gregor Mendel Medal and membership in the Order of Australia. Dr. Basset is a leading entomologist, who specializes in long-term insect monitoring, with extensive research in tropical rainforests. As the head of the ForestGEO Arthropod Initiative, he has advanced several methods for performing biodiversity assessments, including AI-driven monitoring.

Date: 10 March 2025
Time: 2:00 a.m. CET | 9:00 a.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 863 5259 5074
Website: https://sciforum.net/event/Forests-2

This is a free webinar. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join.

Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized. Certificates of attendance will be delivered to those who attend the live seminar.

If you are unable to attend, register anyway and we will inform you when the recording is available for viewing.

Program:

Speaker/Presentation	Time in CST Asia
Prof. Dr. Akihiro Nakamura Chair Introduction	9:00–9:10 a.m.
Dr. Yves Basset Monitoring Insects in Rainforests	9:10–9:50 a.m.
Q&A Session	9:50–10:00 a.m.
Prof. Dr. Roger Kitching Measuring Ecological Change Using Moths: Experiences from Australia and Beyond	10:00–10:40 a.m.
Q&A Session	10:40–10:50 a.m.
Prof. Dr. Akihiro Nakamura Closing of Webinar	10:50–11:00 a.m.

Webinar Chair and Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Akihiro Nakamura, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China;
Dr. Yves Basset, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, D.C., United States;
Prof. Dr. Roger Kitching, Environmental Futures Centre and Griffith School of Environment, Griffith Univ., Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia.