{"id":1221,"date":"2019-08-23T08:18:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T08:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2019-08-23T08:18:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T08:18:18","slug":"how-conserving-natures-umbrella-species-could-benefit-whole-habitats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/conservation\/how-conserving-natures-umbrella-species-could-benefit-whole-habitats\/","title":{"rendered":"How conserving nature\u2019s \u2018umbrella\u2019 species could benefit whole habitats"},"content":{"rendered":"

In conservation, charismatic mammals and birds such as the\u00a0black rhinoceros<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0capercaillie<\/a>\u00a0get a lot of attention, while others, like invertebrates, are often ignored. One way of addressing this problem is to focus on protecting \u201cumbrella species\u201d. These are species whose conservation can benefit many others, especially those that rely on similar habitats. But does this work in practice?<\/p>\n

We had a unique opportunity to\u00a0test the idea<\/a>\u00a0with one of the largest field experiments in Europe. In a region called Breckland in the East of England, we used a tractor to churn tall grassland into bare, sandy plots for Eurasian stone-curlew, a rare summer visitor. The disturbed soil provides excellent camouflage for stone-curlew nests and chicks, and Breckland holds the majority of the UK\u2019s breeding population.<\/p>\n

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The Eurasian stone-curlew with well-camouflaged chicks.<\/span>\u00a0Chris Knights<\/span>,\u00a0Author provided<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rabbits used to graze<\/a>\u00a0in large numbers to create this habitat for stone-curlews, but\u00a0numbers have collapsed<\/a>\u00a0over the past 50 years due to disease, culling and predation. Without the rabbits, stone-curlew habitat shrinks \u2013 and so do the numbers of rare insect and plant species that also thrive in these bare patches of land.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard getting people to care about beetles and seedlings \u2013 especially when there are so many different species. But an\u00a0assessment of the region\u2019s biodiversity<\/a>\u00a0predicted that managing habitats for stone-curlews could benefit many other rare and threatened plants and invertebrates with no additional effort.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because these priority species need the same bare and open habitats as stone-curlews. Predatory beetles like the open territory to spot and hunt prey, whereas many colonising plants like the clear space to set down roots with little competition.<\/p>\n

A programme led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB<\/a>) over thirty years has endeared the stone-curlew to many local bird watchers, so people usually don\u2019t need convincing about the value of protecting them. Because stone-curlew breeding habitat is so compatible with many other threatened species, we thought that looking after them would take care of nearly everything else. This includes species like the tiny \u201cfingered speedwell<\/a>\u201d plant (Veronica triphyllos<\/em>) and the \u201cwormwood moonshiner<\/a>\u201d beetle (Amara fusca<\/em>), both of which are endangered in the UK.<\/p>\n

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Three of the 66 experimental plots where stone-curlews were encouraged.<\/span>\u00a0Jeff Baker<\/span>,\u00a0Author provided<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Propping up umbrellas for beetles<\/h2>\n

Each experimental plot was the size of two football pitches and almost entirely devoid of vegetation. We sampled an incredible 30,000 insects \u2013 including 402 species of beetles, bugs and ants \u2013 by placing 1,000 small containers within the plots and within grassland that wasn\u2019t being managed as a comparison.<\/p>\n

The habitats we created for stone-curlews had more insects, including rare priority species which were found hardly anywhere else in the country, such as the rove beetle (Philonthus lepidus<\/em>). After the experiment, a bug showed up that\u2019s\u00a0never been recorded in Britain before<\/a>\u00a0and is only known by its scientific name,\u00a0Acrocephalus languidus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>
Some of the invertebrates which benefited from stone-curlew management, including\u00a0Acrocephalus languidus<\/em>\u00a0(bottom right) \u2013 a species new to Britain.<\/span>\u00a0Annabelle Horton<\/span>,\u00a0Author provided<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We knew many rare insects and plants preferred the same kind of habitat as stone-curlews, so we weren\u2019t too surprised with our results. But they do suggest something very useful. Finding and protecting a single umbrella species could achieve the same result as multiple projects targeted at many other species, for a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n

This offers a shortcut for conservation. In places with many rare and threatened species \u2013 such as the chalk grassland plains of Southern England or the Caledonian pine forests of the Scottish Highlands \u2013 a catalogue of proven umbrella species could help conservationists confidently manage habitats in the knowledge that vast numbers of other species would also benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In conservation, charismatic mammals and birds such as the\u00a0black rhinoceros\u00a0and the\u00a0capercaillie\u00a0get a lot of attention, while others, like invertebrates, are often ignored. One way of addressing this problem is to focus on protecting \u201cumbrella species\u201d. These are species whose conservation can benefit many others, especially those that rely on similar Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[199,151,198,152,197,196,200],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africansafarisint.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}