A report published by Natural England last week highlights the extent to which habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and now climate change have impacted on England’s species. “Lost Life: England’s Lost and Threatened Species” suggests that, amongst other figures, 24% of butterfly species and 22% of species of amphibian in England have been driven to extinction. The report represents the first ever audit of England’s lost and declining native species, collating all available data. It was the focus of a piece by Robin McKie, the Guardian’s science editor, in this Sunday’s Observer.

Interviewed for the article, Dr Tom Tew, Chief Scientist at Natural England, states that Natural England have in fact underestimated the loss of England’s wildlife; “we wanted to avoid repercussions of being alarmist…There are many more species we think we’ve lost but but we have not included them as they’re not officially extinct.”

The Natural England report identified the major driver of species loss over the last century as habitat loss. Speaking to the Observer, Dr Tew identified farming as a major offender within this, with ‘waves’ of species extinction coinciding with ‘revolutions’ in farming practice. Mechanisation and intensive landkeeping from 1900 onwards saw the first major swathe of extinctions in the countryside, followed by increasing applications of chemical pesticides and fertilisers from 1945 onwards, as food security became an increasing concern. By the middle of the 21st Century, Dr Tew suggests, climate change will account for the majority of future extinctions of English wildlife.

Farming is mainly to blame for the loss of our native plants and wildlife: Observer, Sunday 14th March

The latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has been published today, revealing that the number of species threatened with extinction is growing. 47,677 species are on the list, of which 17,291 are at serious risk. This includes 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates. Amphibians are the group most seriously at risk, with 1,895 of 6,825 known species threatened with extinction. 484 of these species are ‘critically endangered’ and 754 are ‘endangered’. 39 species of amphibian are either ‘extinct’ or ‘extinct in the wild’.

Commenting on the report, Jane Smart, Director of the IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group said: The latest analysis… shows that the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met…It’s time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it’s high on their agendas for next year, as we are rapidly running out of time.”

Source: BBC News

Access the BES and IEEM position statement on ‘Conserving and Managing Biodiversity Beyond 2010′

A new study published in Australia; “Nature of Living Species in Australia and the World”, suggests that almost 1% of the world’s 1.9 million recorded species are threatened, including 9.2% of major vertebrate species. The report was launched yesterday by the Australian Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, and was described by the Australian Government as ‘the only report in the world to document the planet’s known animal and plant species’.

The report shows that 87% of Australia’s mammals and 93% of its reptiles are endemic, found nowhere else in the world. However, in launching the report, the Minister acknowledged that more needed to be done to identify, record and conserve Australia’s biodiversity, stating that “[scientists] need this essential information to do a better job of managing…biodiversity against the threats of invasive species, habitat loss and climate change”.

Sir David Attenborough released a statement in support of the report, praising its contribution to the identification and naming of species and the fundamental step that represented in the path towards species conservation. “The identification and naming of species is the very foundation of the natural sciences. Unless we can be certain of exactly what organism we are considering, we cannot protect it, still less understand it. Listing species is the beginning of that essential process”, he said.

The report said that 20% of mammals were endangered globally, as were 12% percent of birds and 29% of amphibians. Almost 5% of reptiles were considered threatened, along with 4% of fish species.

Download the report at the website of the Australian Biological Resource Study

The Zoological Society of London has recently launched the National Red List website. It is the first central source of national-level biodiversity data, and already holds over 50,000 species accounts from 40 countries.

The website and database seeks to document all existing species assessments and conservation action plans. The new initiative identifies the taxonomic and geographic gaps in biodiversity data, highlighting those regions in need of National Red Lists assessments. It also provides a baseline to monitor national biodiversity trends and assess the effectiveness of current conservation projects.

Conservation efforts are frequently hindered by the limited availability of species information and accurate extinction risk, so the National Red List website should provide a useful focal point for the global conservation community to share crucial species information. It is hoped that conservation planning will improve as a result.

The short-haired bumblebee, declared extinct in the UK in 2000, is to be re-introduced to this country from New Zealand, under a new project facilitated by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

The short-haired bumblebee was transported to New Zealand in the nineteenth century to aid the pollination of crops. Now, in an effort to compensate for recent pollinator declines in the UK, and to tackle habitat loss, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Natural England and Hymettus have launched a scheme to bring the bee back.

Dr Nikki Gammans, Project Officer at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, will bring 50 – 100 short-haired bumblebees back to the UK from New Zealand at the end of this year. The Trust will then instigate a captive breeding programme, with the aim of facilitating successive releases of the bee around Britain from 2010. The first release will be at Dungeness in Kent, the last recorded location of the native short-haired bee before its extinction in this country.

The initial release will be accompanied by efforts to improve the habitat for bees at the Dungeness RSPB reserve and work with farmers to increase bee-friendly areas on their land. 98% of the wildflower meadows have been lost across the UK in the last 60 years. The BCT and Natural England hope this project will contribute to the restoration of areas of habitat suitable for bumblebees across the country.

Original story from the Guardian

The British Ecological Society has organised an event at the British Science Festival this year, working with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Royal Horticultural Society to explore how you can make your garden more hospitable to pollinators. Dr Nikki Gammans will join us to talk about the reintroduction programme. ‘Gardening for wildlife: can suburbia become Britain’s largest nature reserve?‘ will take place on Monday 7 September at the University of Surrey, Guildford. <a href=”http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/policy/science_festival_2009.php”>Find out more.

The outlook for endangered albatross species has dramatically improved, thanks to the success of an international conservation programme implemented by the RSPB and Birdlife International.

The Albatross Task Force (ATF) was established in 2006 in order to reduce the number of accidental albatross deaths caused by long-line fishing. At the time, it was estimated that one bird was killed every five minutes from long line fishing, and 19 of the 22 albatross species were under threat from extinction.

The birds were dying because they were taking bait from fishing lines fed into the sea from boats fishing for tuna or swordfish. Once they swallowed the bait, they would become caught on the hook, dragged underwater and drown.

Specialist instructors from the ATF went out with fishermen and taught them techniques that would stop the birds becoming entangled. They were encouraged to fish at night, weight their lines and attach streamers to the back of vessels to scare the birds away. Government legislation also played its part by stipulating that no more than 25 birds could be caught as “by-catch” during trips.

The programme has been heralded as a resounding success, and has reduced deaths by up to 85% in some locations.

Dr Ross Wanless, coordinator of the Birdlife programme in Africa, said: “Changing entrenched attitudes and practices is a slow process, but the ATF has shown that by working with government and industry, change is possible.”

Whilst the 19 species are not freed from the threat of extinction yet- many are still snagged by trawlers, breeding is slow and habitats are endangered – the campaign is likely to have made a remarkable impact on their population stability and its success cannot be understated.

Learn more about the ‘Save the Albatross’ Campaign here.

Read more about this story at the BBC News website and the Times News website.

Writing in yesterday’s Times (Sunday 1st February), Richard Girling explores the plight of bumble and honey bees in the UK. Examining the massive declines in bee populations in the UK, accelerating from 6% of honeybee colonies failing per year in 2003 to over 30% lost each year now, Richard explores the potential causes of the species’ perilous state, and the consequences if bee species were to become extinct in the UK.

Two members of the BES were interviewed to inform the article; Professor Dave Goulson, University of Stirling, and Dr Mick Hanley, Plymouth University. We are always keen to hear from members of the BES interested in engaging with the media, and can offer support towards media training if necessary. Please contact the BES Press Officer for more information.

Cod is historically one of the most popular commercial fish species in the UK, not to mention popular across the European continent. Because of this, major commercial fisheries have been forced to close, and existing fisheries may also soon face closure.

Exacerbated by the mismatch in timing of their young’s main food source, the copepod, caused by predicted warming events, Cod face an uncertain future.

If cod populations disappear completely, it is likely that ‘trophic cascade‘ events could occur, i.e. the food chain within the broader community could be severely disrupted, as happened when the Canadian cod stocks collapsed.

A recent review paper published in Biology Letters suggests that fisheries management should be at the species-fishery scale, rather than a broad species-specific approach to management. The motivations for the author’s suggestion lie in the considerable variability in genetic make-up and spawning aggregations between different cod populations, and the potential for small meta-populations to crash without being detected, since these are amalgamated with the whole population. Therefore data collection should be accurate and well-timed for effective management.

Targeted conservation measures are recommended to policy-makers where appropriate, however the socio-economic consequences of any decisions made must be given serious consideration.

Blog Readers are invited to comment on this article!

Source: Hutchinson, W.F. (2008). The dangers of ignoring stock complexity in fishery management: the case of the North Sea cod. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0443

Related Material:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1299&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Data from the Zoological Society London (ZSL) suggests that between a quarter and a third of all species have been lost since 1970. The Earth is currently undergoing a major extinction episode, the like of which has not seen since the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, 65.5million years ago. However the fundamental correlates of decline of this extinction episode are rooted in pollution, farming and urban expansion resulting in habitat loss, over-exploitation of marine resources and hunting.

According to the ZSL’s data, populations of land-based species have fallen by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater species by 29%. African antelopes, swordfish and hammerhead sharks are said to have undergone some of the most marked declines.

The press release is timely insofar as the Convention on Biological Diversity is hosting the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Bonn on the 17-18th May this year. The aim of the convention was to accomplish a “significant reduction” in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The ZSL is sceptical that the target will be met, and is critical of governments; citing a lack of policy implementation in order to achieve this goal.

BES members are invited to comment on this article.

The results of a ten-year study into species conservation in Madagascar, published in this week’s Science, could act as a blue print for future areas to conserve species richness in biodiversity ‘hot spots’.

An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Natural History Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of York, built up a vast library of information across a wide range of species whilst in Madagascar. Specially designed software was used to work out the range of each species and how to devise the optimum way of saving them from extinction. Conservation planning has traditionally focused on protecting one species or group of species at a time. This is the first time that such a detailed database over such a broad range of species and such a wide area of land has been developed.

Madagascar has a very high level of endemism and species richness but faces massive threats. Only 10% of its original forested habitat remains. The results of the research will form the basis of the Malagasy government’s plans to triple the area of protected land in Madagascar, extending existing networks of protected species.

Aligning Conservation Priorities Across Taxa in Madagascar with High-Resolution Planning Tools. C. Kremen et al. Science 11 April 2008.