METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AN INDEX OF INSECT BIODIVERSITY, AN INSECT SENSOR AND A SYSTEM OF INSECT SENSORS

An apparatus for determining an index of insect biodiversity, comprising: a plurality of optical insect sensor devices configured to be individually positioned within a geographic area, each insect sensor device configured to: monitor insect activity within a detection volume extending outside the insect sensor device by detecting light from the detection volume, and to output detector data indicative of one or more optically detected attributes associated with respective detected insect detection events, each insect detection event being indicative of one or more insects being present in the detection volume; a data processing system communicatively coupled to the plurality of optical insect sensor devices and configured to: receive detector data from respective ones of the plurality of optical insect sensor devices, the detector data being indicative of one or more optically detected attributes associated with respective detected insect detection events, and to compute, from the received detector data, an index of insect biodiversity indicative of insect biodiversity within the geographic area.