# Insecticides, more than herbicides, land use, and climate, are associated with declines in butterfly species richness and abundance in the American Midwest

*PRI Rank #19 · Topics and Trends in Most Cited Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior Papers, Class of 2026*

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/insect-and-arachnid-ecology-and-behavior/2026/rank-19*

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Rank | #19 |
| 18m citations | 33 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Year | 2024 |
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0304319 |
| Corresponding authors | Braeden Van Deynze |
| Institution | Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, United States |

**Ranking page:** [Topics and Trends in Most Cited Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior Papers, Class of 2026](https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/insect-and-arachnid-ecology-and-behavior/2026)

**Paper link:** [10.1371/journal.pone.0304319](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304319)

## Topics

butterfly species richness · butterfly abundance · Insecticide · Neonicotinoids · herbicides · Land use · climate change · monarch butterfly · monarch butterfly · US Midwest · Pesticide effects · insect declines · community-wide declines · habitat loss · Neonicotinoids · butterfly surveys · large-scale study · 81 counties

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/insect-and-arachnid-ecology-and-behavior/2026. Accessed 2026-07-21.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```