A blog by Buglife Programmes Manager, Jamie Robins.
When you think of the UK’s biodiversity, you probably think of bumblebees in meadows, spider webs in damp autumn grasslands or beetles gliding through ponds. You might not think of bright yellow woodlice covered in spines on distant Atlantic islands or tarantulas in the Caribbean. But the UK’s Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are home to over 1,000 endemic invertebrate species – those that are found nowhere else in the world. Some are restricted not just to small islands such as Ascension Island (88 km²) or Bermuda (54 km²), but to tiny fragments of remaining habitat. The iconic, and sadly Critically Endangered, Spiky Yellow Woodlouse (Pseudolaureola atlantica) is restricted to just 16 hectares of cloud forest on Saint Helena.
A new report by the JNCC has highlighted just how precarious these special species are. Over three-quarters of all endemic invertebrates are classified as threatened, meaning that they are at a high risk of extinction. Across all endemic plant and animal types, the three species groups with the highest proportion of threatened species were invertebrates, with almost all crustaceans and nearly 9/10 arachnids and insects considered threatened. Despite the clear risk of extinction to so many of the UKOTs endemic invertebrates, they are still overlooked compared to better-known species like birds and reptiles. As a result, there is a desperate lack of data and scientific knowledge about these invertebrates, and very limited conservation action on the ground. The lack of attention given to invertebrates historically means that we are still finding new species of endemic invertebrates on UKOTs.
For many of our endemic invertebrates, we have limited information about where they are found, or how they live, making their conservation difficult. It comes as no surprise then to find that many invertebrates lack the basic Red List assessment that is essential to getting them recognised as international conservation priorities. Among UKOT endemics, only about a third of insects, arachnids and molluscs have been assessed. This is in stark contrast to the two-thirds of birds, 8/10 fish and 9/10 reptiles that have already been assessed. We are failing to do the bare minimum of even understanding what endemic invertebrates we have across the UK Overseas Territories, despite having an international responsibility to secure the future of these species.
The UK Government’s ‘UK Overseas Territories biodiversity strategy’ outlines some of what needs to be done and recognises that invertebrates are overlooked, but more action is urgently needed. With the right resources to support the work, we know that we can make a difference.
The ‘Supporting Atlantic Territories Invertebrate Conservation’ project, funded by Darwin Plus and led by Buglife, is working with partners across four UKOTs to support capacity building and sharing knowledge, so local people can do more to help invertebrates. It is also mapping the network of Important Invertebrate Areas to help prioritise where much-needed conservation work on the ground can best deliver results. During this project, Buglife Senior Conservation Officer, Danni Sherwood, discovered seven species of spider new to science on Anguilla during a visit. Seven new endemic species identified from just a single trip by a single expert!
Just knowing that those spiders are there, however, isn’t enough.
The UKOTs are littered with stories of unique wildlife that has gone extinct and is lost forever. From the enormous Saint Helena Giant Earwig (Labidura herculeana) to the Bermuda Cicada (Neotibicen bermudianus), that was once a common sight until the 1970s but now no longer fills the air with its distinctive buzzing after the clearance of the Bermuda Cedar forests that it relied on. People knew these species existed and oversaw their extinctions. We need to know about the lives of the remaining endemic species and work with local communities and experts to understand how to support their recovery and give them the profile that they deserve. How many more times will we hear of lost species for which we have the responsibility to protect? If this doesn’t change, then we are failing in our duty.
The recent JNCC report should act as a wake- up call, that urgent action and resources are needed to prevent the extinction of the UKOT’s special endemic invertebrates. This includes funding to survey and monitor their populations, delivering the targeted habitat protection and restoration actions that are needed, and making it a shared mission to celebrate the amazing wildlife of the UKOTs and support nature’s recovery.