Life on Earth has been challenged repeatedly by periods of catastrophic change that shift the structure and function of communities and ecosystems. The consequences of environmental upheaval have traditionally been studied by paleontologists reconstructing the appearance and disappearance of species in the fossil record. That approach has revealed much about extinction as a process, but has left questions unanswered about the properties of species that lead to persistence. Contemporary changes in the abundance of wild plants and animals provide biologists with the opportunity to track and study natural populations responding to environmental fluctuations that include extremes of weather and drought. This project builds on one of North America's longest-running observational studies of insect populations by continuing data collection at six sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California and Nevada. Encompassing more than 500 species of butterflies and moths, researchers are investigating habitat use by adult butterflies and by caterpillars to better understand direct and indirect effects of temperature and precipitation on insect populations. Results from this work will advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in forecasting insect populations, and will continue to inform our understanding of the health and stability of pollinators and other insects that are crucial for national health and prosperity. Project participants interact with the public through talks, field days, and a novel forecasting website, as well as with local school groups and teachers, supporting science education in urban and rural communities. The coming years of this project represent the completion of a decadal plan to advance and expand upon fifty years of research in a dynamic system that has played an important role in our understanding of insects in the Anthropocene. Ongoing work with this long-term dataset suggests that the impacts of environmental extremes, includin