from Sunday Herald, 02 November 2008
They can survive in outer space, go ten years without water, and resist lethal doses of radiation. But hardly anyone has heard of them, and no-one is campaigning to save them.
Tardigrades, which look like microscopic, eight-legged bears, are amongst the planet’s most amazing animals. There are more than a thousand different species of them in every environment on earth, including high mountains, deep oceans, the tropics and the poles.
But unlike whales, elephants, pandas or polar bears, tardigrades have not caught the public imagination. Neither, it has to be said, have mushrooms, microbes, earthworms or woodlice. And that, say the UK government’s wildlife advisers, is a problem.
By concentrating on protecting a limited number of popular and charismatic animals, we may be missing the bigger picture, they say. Worse, we could be failing to prevent environmental disaster.
“Why do we spend so much time and effort on so-called charismatic species when those on which the earth’s future depends are neglected?” asked Dr Peter Bridgewater, the chairman of the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
“We naturally focus on cute and cuddly beasts, or really colourful flowers, but forget the vast mass of species, which either are very small, or don't seem very appealing. Yet these are the ones which drive our ecosystems, and produce the services we need from nature to survive, like purifying water, storing carbon, and cycling nutrients.”
He accused campaigners of ignoring the lesser know species. “I am waiting to see a non-government organisation put the case for saving the tardigrades, and organise street protests to highlight their plight as they are buried under tonnes of concrete in the ever-spreading development of cities and towns,” he said.
Bridgewater, a leading international conservationist, is calling for a major shake-up in the way governments seek to protect wildlife. “We need a triage approach to species conservation,” he argued. “Saving the man overboard while the ship sinks under you is not a viable long-term strategy.”
Often very little was known about the importance of uncharismatic species like fungi, worms, woodlice and microbes, he said. “We don't know how much biodiversity we need and so argue that every species is needed, but that can't be true since we know we have already lost some.”
Bridgewater made his call at a major conference on species management organised by the government conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), in Edinburgh last week. Other speakers urged policy-makers to adopt a more co-ordinated approach to protecting Scotland’s 31 native land mammals.
Martin Gaywood, SNH’s species manager, highlighted the varied threats they were facing. Mountain hares were at risk from unregulated and unsustainable exploitation, while wildcats were disappearing because they bred with domestic cats.
Water voles were being preyed on by imported American minks and red squirrels squeezed out by North American grey squirrels. Bats were suffering because suitable habitat was being damaged by “inappropriate countryside management”, he said.
Gaywood criticised the focus on reintroducing species like the beaver, now going ahead after years of argument. “Such projects are expensive and high risk, and often highly contentious,” he pointed out.
Simon Milne, the chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, accepted that some species could get too much attention. “We are all guilty to some extent of being attracted to charismatic and highly engaging species, and of course public opinion is often slanted in favour of action to defend and protect them,” he said.
“However, whilst the Scottish Wildlife Trust recognises that single species management has an important place in wildlife conservation, it is just one tool in a whole range of biodiversity conservation techniques we can employ to tackle the decline in native species and habitats.”
The trust’s work on saving the narrow-headed ant or an unassuming plant called the small cow-wheat would not make front-page news, he pointed out. “Yet protecting red squirrels attracts greater media awareness, and offers the potential to get more people involved in our work,”
In an ideal world the nation’s beleaguered natural heritage could all be restored, Milne suggested. “But in reality, our efforts will be influenced by socio-economic issues and public and political support, as well as the vulnerability of individual species or habitats.”
Earlier this month the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Switzerland revealed that 1,141 of the 5,587 mammals on earth are thought to be threatened with extinction. This was a “frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live”, the intergovernmental agency warned.
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