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TOP: African Elephant BELOW: Red kite

In our autumn issue we incorrectly credited the cover image to Mike Brown, it should have been Tina Cla ey. Sorry!

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Editor: Pádraic Fogarty Magazine queries email: editor@iwt.ie Information on campaigning and policies email: irishwildlife@iwt.ie Snail mail: The Irish Wildlife Trust, 8 CABRA ROAD, DUBLIN 7, D07 T1W2 Web: www.iwt.ie

Social media: facebook.com/IrishWildlifeTrust twitter.com/Irishwildlife instagram.com/irishwildlifetrust/ Registered Charity Number: 20010966

About Us

e Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979 and aims to conserve wildlife and the habitats it depends on throughout Ireland, while encouraging a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world.

e IWT is dedicated to creating a better future for Ireland’s wildlife through: Motivating and supporting people to take action for wildlife. Education and raising awareness of all aspects of Irish wildlife and conservation issues. Research of the natural environment. Acquiring and managing nature reserves to safeguard species and habitats. Lobbying decision-makers at all levels to promote policy in Ireland that provides a sustainable future for wildlife and people. Working in partnership with other organisations to achieve results that matter for conservation.

Irish Wildlife is published quarterly by the IWT. e IWT encourages action at a local level and has a number of branches around the country:

Dublin: dublinbranch@iwt.ie facebook.com/DublinBranchIrishWildlife

Trust, dubliniwt.blogspot.ie

Waterford: Denis Cullen, iwtwaterfordbranch@gmail.com, deniscullen@eircom.net, irishwildlifetrust. blogspot.ie

Kerry: Ger, iwtkerry@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/KerryIWT

Limerick: limerickbranch@iwt.ie / https://www.facebook.com /

IWTLimerickBranch

Galway: Dan, iwtgalway@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/IWTgalwaybranch

Laois/O aly: Ricky, iwtlaoiso aly@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/IWTlaoiso alybranch

Monaghan: monaghanbranch@iwt.ie

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

You, our members, make the IWT what it is. rough your subscriptions and support we can undertake the projects that are bene ting Ireland’s wildlife. If you would like to help more, here’s what you can do: • Make a one-o donation to the IWT. • Give IWT membership as a gi . • Volunteer – we are always looking for people to help out. ere are lots of ways to get involved, from helping with important admin work in our o ce to helping us increase membership by volunteering at public events. See our website www.iwt.ie for details or contact the o ce directly. • Do you have land that you would like used for conservation? We are always on the lookout to establish new sites to enhance wildlife or provide education opportunities. • Remember us in your will. Why not leave a lasting legacy towards conserving

Ireland’s natural heritage? e IWT uses all funds towards our campaigns, managing reserves and our education programmes. Please visit www.mylegacy.ie. • Set up a branch. Are you passionate about wildlife and are in a county that does not have an IWT branch? Contact the o ce and we can give you the support you need to get up and running.

CONSERVATION

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

Global heating threatens

a quarter of species

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that up to a quarter of all species may face extinction due to climate change. This is based on the research on species and whether species have been able to adapt to conditions such as increased temperature, rainfall and other factors in the environment. Species that are unable to move or adapt to the changing environment will find themselves stuck in a degrading habitat, and thus more likely to go extinct.

Studies have found that warmer loving species have migrated and extended their ranges towards typically colder habitats, as these areas warm up.

Studies in the past twenty years found that climate change has contributed to the evolution of some species, which have been able to adapt to a changing environment. Individuals with certain genetic variation are more likely to survive and have more offspring. As they breed they pass down this genetic variation to the next generation, and over time the population changes. In a nutshell, demonstrating Darwin’s theory, summarised by Herbert Spencer as “survival of the fittest”, sadly caused by human interference in the environment.

This is not the only evidence of human induced evolution. Apart from the distinctive trunk, one key feature of African Elephants has been their tusks. The tusks have been an advantage to elephants, using them to dig for water, strip bark and leaves off trees and fight with other elephants for territory or mating rights. However, they have also been a liability due to the lucrative market in ivory trading, though now this is a black market.

Researchers in Mozambique have identified how years of poaching have led to a population of elephants that will never develop tusks. During the civil war between 1977 - 1992 elephants were slaughtered by both sides for their ivory in order to finance their war efforts. Before the war less than a fifth were likely not to develop tusks. However, after the war half the females studied never developed tusks.

Genes are responsible for whether elephants inherit tusks from their parents. Previously tuskless elephants were rare but tuskless elephants are becoming more common. What was perplexing was that two-thirds of the offspring were female. This led researchers to suspect that the chromosome is dominant to females, and when inherited by a male it can cause early mortality.

Evolution is often thought of as a slow process, occurring over many generations. Studies on the influence climate change and poaching have had on selective breeding leading to the rapid evolution of species have surprised many researchers in this area. They have also shown how human activities can influence the evolution of species. What this means for species that have not evolved is unclear, but time will tell.

IRISH NEWS By Tom Clabon

PHOTOGRAPH: RORY HODD

New rare fern populations discovered

 Stengrammitis myosuroides

First discovered in 2019, the mousetail fern Stengrammitis myosuroides was discovered in Killarney National Park, nearly 6,500 kilometres from its other location in the cloud forests in the Caribbean mountainous regions of Jamaica, Cuba and Dominican Republic. How it got here is a mystery, although it is not thought that human intervention caused its arrival. Despite its small size, botanists are ba ed how it remained undiscovered for so long.

It was discovered by Rory Hodd while searching for other plants in the area, and who sent a sample o to the Natural History Museum in London for con rmation of its identi cation. Working with American botanists who would be more familiar with this species, it was identi ed as a species of Grammitid, a rare variety which typically grows on trees in the tropics. e nearest occurrence of Grammitid species are the Azores, where two other rare species can be found.

It is not thought that it was introduced as it is impossible to grow in captivity, and the species discovered only grows on rocks, not other plants, so it would be unlikely to have been introduced accidentally.

It is thought that Stengrammitis myosuroides is a relic from when Ireland’s environment would have been very di erent from today's, and thanks to our mild East Atlantic fringe has quietly prospered.

In September 2021 a second population was discovered in another remote woodland in the uplands of the National Park. e discovery of a second population indicates that the species is probably fully established in the area, and that it is likely other populations may also occur in the National Park and further a eld as there are many pockets of suitable habitat. Its discovery highlights the importance and value of temperate oceanic rainforests that would otherwise not survive without protection said its discoverer Dr Rory Hodd, who along with other specialists has spent the last couple of years surveying Killarney National Park with an emphasis on niche species that occur in these discrete areas.