# Insect Pests and Arthropods in Heritage Interiors

## TL;DR

This study explores insect pests in Austrian heritage buildings, finding that urban museums act like isolated islands with limited pest transfer and that pest diversity is influenced by building size and climate.

## Contribution

The study identifies key pest species and their distribution patterns in heritage interiors, linking them to building characteristics and ecological theories.

## Key findings

- Insect catch rates in storerooms were lower than in museums and libraries.
- Pest diversity and distribution are influenced by building size and environmental factors.
- Common pests like booklice and silverfish are evenly distributed, while webbing clothes moths show uneven infestations.

## Abstract

Museums, galleries, libraries and storage facilities are at risk from damage to their collections by insects. This risk can increase under a changing climate or with the transport of invasive pests imported with exhibition loans and other materials or via more frequent international travel. We studied the insect pest and arthropod community in 30 heritage buildings in Austria over multiple years. The number of insects trapped in storerooms was low compared to museums and libraries. Museums in urban areas appear to resemble isolated islands, so transfer of individuals, species or populations between them is limited. The number of different species found in the museum ecosystem appears to be associated with the size and complexity of the building and its collection. Individual insect species are distributed independently of each other and do not compete for food, water or habitat. This could be because the museum pest community is of low diversity and has a simplified food web based on detritus. This leads to populations being controlled by environment and climate factors. Our study helps to understand and manage pests in ways that avoid the use of harmful pesticides.

The insect threat to heritage objects can increase with climate change, increased travel, movement of goods and loan exhibitions. This study used catch from 30 heritage environments across Austria. Overall arthropod catch rate in storerooms was lower than in museums and libraries. Taxonomic richness of the ecosystem in the buildings was a product of building size, perhaps paralleling island biogeography. Heritage pests are distributed independently and follow environmental gradients, perhaps aligning with Henry Gleason’s continuum theory of ecological communities. Catch rates for some abundant pests are evenly distributed among buildings (e.g., Psocoptera booklice, Lepisma saccharinum common silverfish), but Tineola bisselliella, the webbing clothes moth, is unevenly distributed because some locations have large infestations. Rare species are unevenly distributed, as these are found in only a few buildings. A characteristic set of insect pests appear to dominate indoor heritage environments in Austria: Psocoptera, Lepismatidae silverfish, Tineola bisselliella webbing clothes moth and carpet beetles like Anthrenus spp. and Attagenus spp. These pests are also common in the interiors of heritage buildings in some other European countries.