They're small in scale but huge in consequence.
Insects and the critical role they play in biodiversity are often overlooked when climate change is discussed.
But a team of ecological researchers are hoping to change that.
"If you're thinking about biodiversity, often what comes to mind are mammals or birds, but in the functioning of an ecosystem, insects are a major component of that," Griffith University Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Louise Ashton said.
"Insects are a major component of forest biodiversity, they're essential for the ways in which ecosystems function, the ways in which pollination occurs and insects are essential components of food webs."
'Poor understanding' of insects
For the past month Dr Ashton and her team have been collecting insects like moths across different elevations in the mountainous Lamington National Park using bucket traps connected to UV lights.
Data on humidity and temperature is also being tracked over 12 months to pinpoint climatic changes.
Dr Ashton said by comparing the results to a similar study conducted 20 years ago, they'll learn how warming temperatures, expected to pass 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next decade, have impacted insect populations.
"We don't have a good understanding of how the ecosystems are potentially changing and the way they function or if there is some kind of breakdown in the function or biodiversity of these ecosystems," she said
"As you go up the mountain, the temperature declines and things get cooler and you have different moths at different elevations.
"What we predict will happen through time as the temperature continues to increase is that some some species sensitive to climate, will shift distribution.
"So they'll move to higher elevations to track their preferred climate and temperatures that they need."
She said the result means "potentially we will lose the biodiversity at the tops of the mountains first" amid broader concerns for declining insect populations globally.
However, Dr Ashton said more data is needed.
Why bugs matter
Griffith University Emeritus Professor Roger Kitching led the first study into how climate changes were impacting insects in 2006 and 2007.
He said insects were "the little things that run the world" and changes to their population could affect "the whole dynamics of the forest".
"The dynamics and mechanics of any forest depend on a very large extent on its insect fauna," he said.
"The birds and the mammals and the reptiles are the icing on the cake and we tend to notice them because they're a lot bigger and more likely to operate more in the spatial scale that we operate in."
Often considered "the lungs of the world", Dr Kitching said the health of forests and rainforests were vital in minimising the current trend of climate change.
"There's only one efficient machine for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and it's a plant," he said.
"The general population have begun to appreciate the reality of climate change."
But now he said research into the "nitty-gritty" impacts of climate change, including the spread of invasive plant species and bushfires in sub-tropical areas, needs to be better appreciated.
"Ecosystem destruction globally is running parallel to climate change and that makes it even more of an acute problem," Dr Kitching said.
The research team will return to Lamington National Park in March to collect more samples, with a report expected next year.
