CONSERVATION NEWS

CONSERVATION NEWS The latest national and international news from the conservation world, compiled by Tim Clabon.

IRISH NEWS

 A Blue Tit in Northern Ireland perched on a stick with a fresh catch of caterpillars in its mouth

The number of records submitted through Biodiversity Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal passed the 100,000 mark on the 4th of July, in comparison to this record being reached in 2019 on the 22nd August.

The three months of the Covid-19 lockdown saw an increase in the rate of recording. April experienced a 54% increase, May a 70% increase and June 66% compared to previous years. This would indicate people turned to recording and engaging with wildlife during the lockdown.

The lockdown may have allowed people to spend more time on their interests and perhaps learn about their locality, connect with nature and maybe notice more wildlife that can be so often overlooked despite being virtually on peoples doorsteps.

Biodiversity Ireland’s #SpeciesADay was also an initiative set-up to encourage people to record the wildlife they see in their local area. This appears to have had a great response, with many people engaging with the campaign. https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/recordersreach-the-100000th-record-mark-in-2020/

“2020 has seen a marked increase in recording activity throughout the country,”according to Oisín Duffy, Surveys and Records Officer with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, “There has been a significant surge in recording activity, particularly from April of this year, with figures higher than we have ever seen. On average, over 3,500 records are being entered each week in 2020. Massive thanks to all our recorders who have made this possible.

Ireland’s Citizen Science portal is available to be used by anyone; if you see a species of note and are sure of its identification, please submit the details tohttps://records.biodiversityireland. ie/ so that the observation can be added to our national biodiversity database. This will allow us to continue to build the knowledge base on what species we have in Ireland and help us to better understand how they are distributed.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Pandering to One Species

 Giant Panda

by Tim Clabon

The Giant Panda is one of the most recognisable species of conservation concern. It is one of the success stories of conservation, being saved from the brink of extinction. It is even the logo of the World-Wide Fund for Nature.

However, the success of this species has had unforeseen consequences on other species having failed to take in the requirements of larger predators when establishing Protected Areas for conserving Giant Panda populations.

The success of Giant Pandas is seen as an example of wildlife conservation working. Once they were listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, but in 2016 their status was changed to Vulnerable.

Known as an ‘Umbrella’ or ‘Flagship’ species (a species selected for conservation, as protecting them indirectly benefits other species), it was thought that by conserving pandas, other species would benefit. However, results of research carried out by Dr Sheng Li, et al of Peking University in Beijing, found that while many species have benefitted from this approach, large carnivores in the areas where conservation efforts were targeted for the Giant Panda indicate that these species may have missed out.

Carnivores including Leopards, Snow Leopards, Asian Wild Dogs and Wolves have practically disappeared from the majority of areas protected for the Giant Panda.

The study, led by Dr Sheng Li with a team of researchers used over a decade worth of data from camera-trap surveys, analysing data from 73 protected areas, 66 of which were panda nature reserves, and compared them with historical data.

Their findings showed that the Umbrella species approach benefitted many species including plants, birds, and smaller mammals (we assume insects also, but this is not mentioned). But larger carnivores lost out.

Carnivores play an important role, keeping species such as deer in check, which would otherwise cause problems such as overgrazing within their habitat, having knock-on effect for other species, as well as pandas. These carnivores face threats from logging, poaching of both the carnivores and their prey and disease brought in by domestic animals. Their loss could be devastating to the ecosystem, resulting in change or even collapse.

Since the establishment of reserves for pandas in the 1960s the study found that; leopards have disappeared from 81% of reserves, snow leopards from 38%, wolves from 77% and Asian wild dogs from 95%. The numbers of these species in the areas studied are now very low. Overall, the study found that all four species had retreated from areas they had historically occupied. Snow Leopards showed the least amount of decline, believed to be due to the low human density in their alpine habitats.

The researchers suggest that one of the main factors that benefited pandas but not the carnivores might be the different habitat needs.

The pandas occupy a relatively small territory, whereas the carnivores require a larger territory. Protected Areas were established which while being suitable for pandas, were too small to afford protection for the four predators, apart from a couple of larger protected areas, which contained all four species of predator.

The researchers recommend that more specific long-term integrated planning is required to account for the needs of the four predators considering habitat restoration, anti-poaching enforcement and reducing the habitat fragmentation between Protected Areas.

The researchers conclude “restoring large carnivore populations and trophic complexity in giant panda habitats will increase the resilience and sustainability of the ecosystem, not only for giant pandas, but also for other wild species.

While it is easy to see this as a negative story, the success of the panda conservation program provides hope for other species threatened globally, and recognising the issue means steps can be taken to reverse negative trends identified in other keystone species. China’s government is now implementing institutional reforms. This includes establishing a National Park Administration to oversee Protected Areas, and hopefully address habitat fragmentation.